Harry Potter and the Gate of Possibility
by Ryven
Summary: *New chapter - 17 on 6/02 rating change & edits*. (blood and Animagi transformations gone wrong) Snape, Dumbledore and McGonagall must fight a dragon controlled by Voldemort INSIDE Hogwarts
1. Movements

A/N: This is an odd little story that snuck into my head just before finals and started beating pots and pans around in the back of my brain until I finally broke down and opened my word processor.

            It's Harry's 5th year and some things never change. Malfoy is still a prick *dodges thrown objects from the Draco fans*, Voldemort is still lurking around in the shadows, yet another new DADA teacher has been chosen.  Dumbledore has begun making overtures of friendship to the non-human magical races much to the annoyance of Minister Fudge. Things are never as they seem…

All chars you can't recognize are mine but the rest and this lovely world belong to JKR. She rules ^_^

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The Beginning…Movements in the dark

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       The thick clouds overhead obscured the light of the moon. They suddenly broke apart and the silver light of the full moon caressed the green landscape, danced on the far hills and merrily found it's way into the crevices and crannies of the rocky outcroppings nearby. In the distance a wolf howled. An Alpha. His pack answered as they began the hunt. The wizards and witches present paused and then bent to their task with more urgency and speed. The smallest wizard, one in ragged clothing, shuddered. He had reason above all others present to fear werewolves. 

       "Hurry!" his small voice rose into the balmy night as he gestured wildly to a group of wizards at the edge of the trees. They had their wands pointed aloft and above them a dark shape floated. The moved forward and the shape moved as well, as if tethered to their wands. A wooden, metal and stone arch had been constructed in the center of a giant circle inscribed with a great many glyphs and lines. The markings began to move as several people stooped to place blood red stones in little grooves in the earth. The door glowed slightly and swung outward. Inside, the little wizard could see that there had been a door on the other side as well and it too had swing outward. He saw himself in a little clearing in some dark woods. His other self was beckoning madly and looking over his shoulder. The wizards moved the wrapped bundle through the portal and it was received by the same group of people on the other side. The transfer completed the other side slammed the door closed and it ceased to glow. The group of Wizards hurriedly disassembled the door, removed the jewels, and erased the now still glyphs from the ground. The little wizard smiled to himself and nodded to the others who disapperated immediately, each taking pieces of door with them. He nodded to himself and pulled his cloak tighter, a small bit of silver glinted off his hand just before he too, disapperated.

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Movements of the Light

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            In Dumbledore's study a tabby cat laid stretched on a window seat in the midmorning sun. Birds chirped outside and the soft bustle of the House Elves made a fairly pleasant background noise. The cat's ears flicked as the rushing sound of two great, flapping wings disturbed her sleep. The cat looked up and a large red, gold bird was settling himself on his golden perch by the window. The phoenix tilted his head and the cat got the distinct impression that the bird wondered why she was sunning herself here. The cat flicked one of her ears in greeting but ignored the bird's quizzical looks, and chose instead to look at the doorway of the office.

            Soon the door opened and a tall wizard with an exceptionally long beard strode into the room. He took off his pointed hat and ran long fingers through his silvery hair before fishing out a treat for the phoenix on the perch. Only then did Dumbledore seem to notice the tabby.

            "Oh, Professor. Have you been there long?" He asked the tabby cat. The cat stretched lazily with the grace and haughtiness only a feline can possess, then shot him a terribly smug look. The cat sat back on her haunches and transformed into a witch, but while the fur, tail, and pointed ears disappeared, the smug smile remained. She removed two letters, one slightly crumpled, from the pocket of her robe and handed it to him.

            "A letter from Hagrid, Albus, and one from Figg," She said. He took the letters and read the crumpled one first. The phoenix tilted his head and uttered one musical call then hopped up on the back of Dumbledore's chair

            "Oh, Wonderful!" he exclaimed and permitted his own smug smile. "I imagine," He said with some small amount of amusement, "That some people will be quite put out by some of the new students,"

            "No more so than the new teacher," McGonagall replied, "She'll be arriving in a week. The new students will arrive at the same time the express does. And anyway, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are doing the same thing. Heaven knows the American and Canadian schools have always allowed others peoples to attend their schools if they so desired. Really, the ministry will seem terribly backwards if they oppose this,"

            "Indeed," Dumbledore opened and read the letter from Figg. "Ah," he said, "I'm glad he had a good summer. After last year, he deserved it. Ah, he's gone to spend some time with the Weasley's. I imagine I'll be hearing from Molly shortly then," He said and McGonagall nodded in agreement. A tapping and a polite 'Hoot' from the window drew their attention to a tired looking great horned owl, sitting on the windowsill. Fawkes moved over on his perch and the owl hopped into the room and landed next to the larger bird with an audible sigh. It stuck its leg out and Dumbledore removed the message attached to it. He handed the letter to McGonagall to open and then gave the owl a few Knuts and a Chocolate fly. The owl hooted, ate the candy then flew from the room.

            "It's a letter from the dean of Hawkwing."

            "Speak of the Americans…" McGonagall said with a slight roll of her eyes. Of the nearly fifty (registered and still living) Animagi world wide, 6 were in the UK, but 21 were from the States and a further 17 were from Canada and the South Americas. She'd met just about every one of them at a convention of Animagi a few years back. And while she supposed that they'd found her as odd as she'd found them, Minerva McGonagall had found some of the wizards and witches she'd met from there to be trying beyond rationality. Dumbledore  tut-tutted at her and continued to read the letter.

            "A girl is going to be transferring here," he told her, "it seems her father works for the International and has been reassigned here because of…recent events," his expression became a tad more grim.

            "Well I'll speak with Hagrid when he returns in two days," McGonagall said as she took the letter and read it herself, "Oh! She's got her student Animagus license. That should shake up our students a bit," she said, pleased.


	2. Welcome back, students

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Welcome back

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       "Yeahhh, well I'm glad that's over" Ron Weasley stepped off the Hogwarts Express and stretched with a yawn. Hermione rolled her eyes and shared a silent laugh with Ginny Weasley as they too disembarked.

            "You know, I remember those compartments being a lot bigger when we were first years," Harry observed as he also stretched his cramped muscles. 

            "I am just glad you two won't miss the Sorting ceremony…again!" Hermione teased. The boys shouted protests that circumstances were well beyond their control in the previous years, but Hermione and Ginny waved off their excuses as trivial with small laughs and flicks of the wrist. 

            "Firs'years! 'on now! Follow me!" The unmistakable voice of their friend Hagrid, the Games Keeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry called the new students to the shore. 

            'I wonder what he'll have us dealing with this year," Ron wondered, shoulders drooping slightly. Harry patted him on the shoulder and they began walking towards the carriages that the older kids took to the school instead of the boats.

            "He means well Ron. Anyway I don't think anything can be as bad as those 10-legged fire-snits" Harry said. Ron winced. The snits had looked disturbingly like spiders and Ron HATED spiders.

            "11 legged fire-snits would be worse!" Ron protested as he climbed into the carriage.

            "Say, aren't they awfully tall for first years?" Ginny piped up suddenly. An older, blonde girl was sitting in a boat with a quaking first year student.

       "I see more than one," Harry remarked. She definitely looked older than the other students in the fleet of boats on the lake, and there were three other taller shapes among the first years in the boats. Hermione got up from her seat and peered out the window.

       "I saw her on the train sitting with some Ravenclaws, but now that you mention it I haven't seen her before," she admitted, "But I don't know who the others are. The first years at the station seemed to be normal height to me,"

       The coach suddenly lurched forward, sending Hermione into Ron's lap.

       "Hey! Watch it!" Ron exclaimed.

       "Sorry," Hermione apologized and slid into her seat.

       "S'ok. Well, I guess we'll see at Sorting," Ron said with a shrug.

       "I heard on the train that we have a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher!" Ginny Weasley said.

       "Yeah, something about her not being human? Some Slytherins were grousing about it," Ron said. Then his eyes lit up, "D'you think maybe she's a veela?" The others rolled their eyes. "What?" he asked.


	3. Another year, another Sorting

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The Sorting

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       As soon as the first years entered the hall, The room began buzzing. The new students gazed around in wonder at the floating candles, the silvery ghosts wafting through the air as they watched the ceremony, and at the enchanted ceiling. But among the normally short eleven year olds, there were four taller students. And two were definitely not human. The first of these seemingly out of place students, was the blonde girl. She had her hair pulled into a French braid and wore a pleasant expression as she gazed around the hall. The second girl was nearly as tall as Ron now was. She had a lovely olive complexion and raven hair and eyes. She reminded Harry of a slimmer, younger sister or cousin of Madame Maxime. The other two taller students were both boys, and despite their, relatively speaking, towering heights, they both looked quite young. One boy had dark, well tanned skin and a shock of nearly white blonde hair, which was cut in what looked like a slightly longer military fade. He had sparkling blue eyes with deep crinkles at the corners and he was watching everything with a relaxed interest. The other boy was fairly pale and had a smattering of freckles and curly jet black hair which he was nervously running a hand through. He looked much more like the rest of the first years except for his great height.

       "They're giants!" hissed Hermione, but Harry had already guessed that. Well two of them seemed to be giants. He wasn't sure about the girls. 

       The line of first years stopped at the front of the hall and McGonagall disappeared for a moment. The first years all looked at one another and wondered what would happen. A bold girl struck up a conversation with the blonde giant in line next to her. The two taller girls began conversing in hushed tones and the rest of the hall took it as a cue to begin murmurings of their own. Harsh sounding comments were emanating most often from the Slytherins of course, but there were furtive glances from all around the room.

        Professor McGonagall strode back into the great hall and her presence silenced all conversation. She carried an old stool and a wizard's hat which had definitely seen better days. She set the hat on the stool and the Sorting Hat began to sing its song about the different houses at Hogwarts. Everyone clapped at the clever song as the hat bowed to the room. Ron found it rather amusing that some of the first years seemed to be quite taken back by the singing hat, but he quickly shut up as Professor McGonagall unrolled the scroll of names and began reading them aloud

            "Lacy McDougal!"

       The petite girl with a smudge on her nose raced up to the front of the room and put the Hat on. She'd been the one to speak with the Giant, unafraid and perfectly at ease. Harry thought it wasn't terribly surprising when the Hat shouted:

            "Gryffindor!" 

       The Gryffindor table stamped, thumped and shouted their welcome and approval. Lacy hopped off the stool, tossed the hat back on the chair and raced over to the table. The Sorting Hat seemed to shake itself a bit and Harry could have sworn it huffed in exasperation after being tossed so rudely, but it quickly settled back and awaited the next student. Lacey was headed right for their part of the table, so Hermione slid over into Ron who slid into Harry to make room.

            "Hi!" Lacy said with a big smile for the table as she sat next to Hermione. Her new housemates all began introducing themselves.

            "Amus Littleton!" McGonagall called and a tall, skinny, bookish boy with shaggy blonde hair sat on the seat.

            "Ravenclaw!"

The Ravenclaws shouted and pounded fit to beat the Gryffindors as the new student took his place at their table.

            "Say, I bet that's the new Defense teacher," Ron said pointing to the table. A pretty woman in a robe of a decidedly different cut sat between Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape. Snape normally hated the Defense Against Dark Arts teachers and didn't seem to be too happy with the seating arrangement, but he didn't seem overly put out.

            "Cynthia Bludgestrom!"

            "She looks human to me," Harry observed.

            "Yeah, and Snape doesn't look too angry. Just his normal level of disgruntlement," Ginny said.

            "Slytherin!" The Hat yelled, drawing their attention to the Slytherin table where the new student, a grease ball of a kid, sat down. Draco Malfoy seemed to be holding court with his usual lackeys a few seats down.

            "Hope Felton!"

            "Being fifth years hasn't seemed to have improved any of them," Hermione observed dryly before erupting into cheers for another Gryffindor, "Oh, Look!" She was pointing to the front of the room where McGonagall had called a Nodens Oak.

            One of the giants, the boy with the blonde hair, was headed for the stool. He sat down carefully and put the hat on. Amazingly it covered his whole head as it had for the smallest first year. The hat considered for a moment then yelled

            "GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindors immediately began applauding out of habit and politeness, but then they thought about it: If this is where the sorting hat had placed him, who the hell cared who he was? Hagrid was a good sort and Look! The Slytherins were all smirking! Gryffindors weren't the discriminatory types! Hell no! The applause had become deafening by the time Nodens had taken his place at the table.

            "He's named after the Celtic god of healing," Hermione whispered to her friends, "I-"

            "Read it in a book, did you?" Ron asked. Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes.

            "Silas Turner!" The room returned its attention to the sorting. Harry looked up at the head table. Hagrid was smiling so broadly Harry was sure his face was going to split right in two. Harry caught his eye and Hagrid gave him a thumbs up. The next Giant, a Cernunnos Isletrekker was sorted into Hufflepuff. The Slytherins had about three types of fits when that was announced. This was a horrid, human-hating giant, after all. Hardly someone to be put with the _Hufflepuffs._

            The Hufflepuff reaction was much the same as the Gryffindor one, and not a few Hufflepuffs glared at the Slytherins across the hall. Many Gryffindors joined the Hufflepuffs in silencing the Slytherin snickers with frosty glares.

            "We're almost done, but look, those girls still haven't been called. Lacey, do you know who they are?"

            "Ravenclaw!"

            "Who? Oh, the Yank? Yeah she was on the train. Some American girl. I think she's a transfer student or something like that. The other girl showed up at the water's edge with the other two,"

            "Julia Xie!"

            "Really?" Hermione said more to herself than anyone else.

            "Slytherin!"

            "Interesting. Know why?" She asked Lacey as the sorting continued.

            "June St.Croix!"

            "Sorry, " Lacey shrugged. Hermione nodded and watched as the last of the first years, a pleasant looking girl with her hair in many beaded dreadlocks, was sorted into Hufflepuff. A murmur went up in the hall as Professor McGonagall re-rolled the scroll, but there were still two students left. McGonagall motioned for silence and spoke to the hall.

            "Tonight we also two special students. Iseult Stonehammer will be joining a fifth year class,"  she indicated the tall girl with the dark hair, "and Lisa Green is going to be transferring into the fourth year class," McGonagall announced and gestured for Iseult to come forward. The tall girl tilted her head and strode to the seat. She perched on it as if she was unsure the stool would take her weight. It did easily and she put the hat on. The hat considered for an even longer time than it had with Nodens.  Cernunnos' sorting had taken seconds, so Harry got the impression that this girl was yet another student who would do well in either of a few houses. 

            Finally, the hat yelled: "RAVENCLAW!" and the Ravenclaws burst into applause. Harry looked over and saw that Iseult was being welcomed to a seat between to Cho and Terry Boot, another fifth year.  Cho saw him looking at her and Harry's cheeks went red as he smiled. Cho seemed to giggle and she smiled back. Harry quickly turned his attention back to the front of the room where the last girl was standing patiently. He hoped no one could see his burning cheeks. McGonagal was addressing the Hat. 

            "..She comes from the American school, Hawkwing, in Colorado," more murmurs arose. Hawkwing was arguably the best of the three American schools; Riverdell, Hawkwing, and Coldrocks.

            "She was one of the Lupine tribe,"

            "Oh! Some of the world's most famous Animagi came from that tribe!" Hermione squealed, "And they are very good with magical creatures! I read it in "Wizarding schools around the world" last summer. Ron rolled his eyes at the mention of extra reading.

            "What's a tribe? Like our houses?" Ginny asked.

            "Something like that," Hermione said, "They seem to have 5 tribes at the Hawkwing school. The Lupines, the Felids, the Corvidae, the Ursine and the Piscine." She said in a hushed whisper. 

            At the front of the room, Lisa approached the Hat on its stool.

            "Hello," she said to the hat before picking it up. She sat down, then put it on her head. The room was mostly silent as the Hat considered. Finally, the Hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and the Gryffindors erupted into applause. Lisa blushed slightly and handed the hat back to professor McGonagall who took the stool and hat from the room.

            "Ooooh, I can't wait to ask her about Hawkwing! I bet she's very good at transfiguration!" Hermione grinned.

            "Wonderful, she can help us with our homework," Ron rolled his eyes. His sister kicked him under the table.

            "Shhh! Be nice!" Ginny said with a hiss. Lisa hesitantly walked to the table and George and Fred each scooted to one side, creating a seat between them. She sat down and smiled nervously.

            "I'm Fred, and he's George. We're Sixth years! That over there is our little sis Ginny, she's another 4th year and the other redhead is our brother Ron. He's a fifth year. That's Lee Jordan with the dreads. Oi! Lee! Come say "hi!" and that's Hermione she's just about the smartest kid here and the kid with the scar is none other than Harry Potter himself," Fred said in a rush. 

            "Don't worry," Hermione said across the table, "There won't be a test."

            "Always you and tests!" Ron grumped and Hermione swatted him while Ginny kicked him again, "Ow! watch it!"

            "Welcome to Gryffindor," Harry said reaching across George to clasp hands with the new girl.

            Lisa smiled and her blue eyes sparkled. Harry's smile almost faltered. Had he seen her before? Maybe she'd been at Diagon alley getting new supplies just before the term had started. Harry thought that somehow every Hogwarts student had decided to shop on the same day. And while it was nice to see his schoolmates, he'd also had to stand in line, which was a new experience on Diagon alley. Yeah, now that he thought about it, he'd seen her getting new robes. He remembered he'd though it odd that such a happy looking kid could have such dour looking parents.

            "Thank you," she said in her odd American accent, "it's just a little bit overwhelming," She admitted. Hermione nodded and clasped hands with the new girl as well.

            They hushed as Dumbledore stood to give his yearly banquet speech.

            "Another year come and soon to be gone. I trust you have all studied the materials and done the assignments the teachers assigned to you over the break?" A loud groan rose from the tables, "Well, each year seems to bring changes and this year's change, as it has been is the past few years, is a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,"

            "How long do you think this one will last," Ron said to Harry, who snickered.

            "I would like you all to welcome Professor Stonehoof," Dumbledore said and indicated the attractive woman the students had already spied and deduced was the new DADA teacher.

            "What sort of name is- ..oh." Ron said as the new teacher rose.

            "Well I see what they mean about not being human. But I think that's probably ok," Harry said. 

            Professor Stonehoof was a Centauress.  From the waist up she looked Human. She wore translucent white and gold edged robes Harry had decided looked very Greek. Gold cording wrapped  and held together the ivory and gold flecked fabric of her…dress?  Tunic? Pip- something. Harry couldn't remember what the clothing was called. She was fair skinned and had a few freckles. Her honey and gold hair was wild and reminded Harry of Hermione's normally bushy hair, but the professor seemed to have learned the trick of taming it slightly

            Of course being a Centauress meant that the new professor was equine from the waist down. She was a pretty peaches and crème color which matched her hair quite well. She wore little belled anklets on her four hoofed feet and they jingled as she moved to stand. The tables applauded but the greeting was lukewarm at best from the Slytherin table. The first years had begun clapping eagerly but quickly toned it down after a few glares from the upper classes.

            "Centaurs are very magic creatures, but I didn't think they cared about the affairs of humans," Hermione pondered as the applause died down.

            "Wow," Lisa said, "I've never seen a real centaur before. We have North American Hinds near where I used to live but they don't come around often. Usually they show up to bitch at the Dean about Muggle loggers and city expansion in the area."

            "Ooh," Hermione breathed, "is Hind's blood really that poisonous? The European line in this area was killed off in the early centuries so I've never seen one. We can't use the imported stuff in potions."

            "I think so. The local family groups aren't terribly pleasant to be around and the teachers always go really tense when they enter the school grounds. They bitch at us when we play Quidditch too loudly," Lisa whispered back then turned her attention back to the head table.

            Dumbledore concluded his speech with the usual warnings about the forbidden forest and a reminder to students to obey the school rules and not leave their towers after hours. He chuckled for a moment at his own alliteration and the teachers all plastered forced grins and chuckled half heartedly. Then Dumbledore lead everyone in the school song, conducting the cacophony with his wand, which spouted out the words into the air.

            As usual Fred and George made their usual racket, but this year held a new surprise as they'd managed to choreograph a dance to the school song as well.  As one, several Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Slytherins leapt up onto the tables and proceeded to dance and sing the school song in time. They ended in a spectacular kick-line down each house table, Fred and George in the middle of the Gryffindor line, grinning widely. Most of the room couldn't finish singing because they were laughing so hard and a few students even leapt up to join their enchanted schoolmates in the spontaneous dance number. 

            When the song ended the students stood there and looked around, dazed. They then bushed and they climbed down off their tables to much applause. The Slytherins were terribly put out, but the rest of the school, including Dumbledore and a handful of the other professors, seemed to think it was a fine joke. 

            "Ah, Wonderful! I thank you both," he addressed Fred and George, "for not including the staff in that little impromptu dance number," he clapped his hands together and rubbed them in a "let's get down to business manner", "Now I'd like to say a few words. Flippity Poodle Snolings-firth! Let's eat before the night is older!"   

            And with that, the tables filled with the most delicious foods, drinks and treats of all shapes and sizes. The plates which had clattered to the floor during the Weasley's dance seemed to apperate back into their places.

            "I swear, the elves get better at making food every year," Ron said as he spread something green and sparkling on a piece of bread, "So what's a Yank like you doing here at Hogwarts?" he asked and took a large bite.

            "Mom and Dad are both Brittish, but Dad's studying stuff for the International convocation of wizards and witches so we moved a lot. I was actually born in Greece, but then Dad was transferred before I was a year old. We've lived in Mexico and Canada, all over the States, for a month in Germany and half a year in Japan,"

            "Wow! Cool!"

            "I wish! We didn't stay very long and I was young, so I didn't get to pick of any new languages or friends or really meet friends, or any fun stuff like that. But we've lived the last 10 years in the States so…"

            Ginny Weasley listened with half an ear as she ate. The food was good and the new students added a brand new flavor to the conversation as they always did. But something was odd. She couldn't place the feeling exactly, but living with Fred and George she'd developed a good sixth sense for being aware of funny stuff. She looked around the room and caught Malfoy's eye. He glowered at her and began making nasty jokes, most likely about her or her family from the way the Slytherins looked at her not too subtly and laughed. Ginny pursed her lips and blew him a mocking kiss. Malfoy frowned and broke eye contact as Ginny mentally marked "Weasley two, Malfoy: Zip." Seeing Draco Malfoy dance the can-can on the Slytherin table would forever be a happy thought to keep her going in the darkest of times. Too bad she hadn't a camera to take a picture to show her parents…or the daily prophet!


	4. Cedric's Huffle Puffs

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Cedric's Huffle Puffs

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       The prefects herded the first years up the many steps and gave them the password for their tower. The fat lady beamed at all the new students as she swung silently aside, letting them enter. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the older students tramped into the common room a few minutes later. Ginny and a few other fourth years were busy showing the new girl around and the first years were sort of milling around together in a large group. The older students immediately broke them up and a dozen conversations began around the room.

       "Ah cool! So you like the Cannons too! That's great! My favorite…"

       "No, no football here. They have something called Quidditch. It's a great game, you'll get used to it soon enough! I did!"

       "Hey! I live near you, we can visit over the summer and…"

       "Yeah I know the first year no broom rule 'kinda stinks, but what can ya do…"

       "So, are you really a giant," Ron asked the new first year. He smiled down at Ron and nodded.

       "Yeah, no too many of us are magical. Last year stuff started happening. My brother and I were wrestling and he was getting the better of me and out of nowhere this big branch sailed over and smacked him upside the head! Bang!" Nodens said illustrating the smack with a clap of his large hands. Ron, who was the youngest brother of six laughed heartily.

            "That's brilliant!" he said, "I wish I'd have know how to do that when my brothers were beating me up." Lee Jordan, Hermione and a few giggling second years crowded around the young Giant, and began asking a flood of questions. Now that Ron had started a conversation, the rest took it as a cue that really, this boy was normal however tall he was.

            "Psst! Harry!" Harry tuned and saw the Weasley twins beckoning him from across the common room. The boys wore identical smiles, but Harry was quick to notice they weren't the usual mischievous smiles the two normally wore.

            "What's up?" Harry asked them. Fred drew Harry aside so that their backs were to the common room. George stood in front of them and withdrew a small bag from the pockets of his robes.

            "We invented these this summer. In secret. We wanted them to be just right when we gave them out.  We used some of the gold you gave us to develop these," he tipped three, brightly colored puffs of what looked like spun sugar into Harry's cupped hands.

            "He," George began, stopped, tried again, "he really wasn't that bad. We were just sore he was so good at Quidditch. He was a good guy. Our games against Hufflepuff won't nearly be as exciting," Harry knew exactly who the twins were talking about. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff who'd died by the hand of Voldemort the year before.

       Seeing Harry's bright mood instantly begin to dim, George continued on in a hurried pace. 

       "So you said we were gonna need some laughs. And Dumbledore told us not to forget. So we made these," he indicated the soft candies.

            "Try one," Fred said, "We call them Cedric's Huffle Puffs. What better way to remember someone than to name a candy after them! Everyone knows Bertie Bott and Zonkos! Go on, Try one." Harry looked at them and hesitantly ate the blue candy. It was the pleasant taste of blueberries, freshly picked. It was also chewy after being initially light and fluffy like spun sugar. They were, Harry had to admit, quite good. Normally Fred and George's candies and tricks had some sort of joke spell attached to them, but Harry couldn't detect any such thing thus far.

            "There are good," he said. As he spoke a plume of blue smoke erupted from his mouth. "Woah!" he exclaimed and another plume shot out and drifted silently upwards. The smoke smelled faintly of blueberry.

            "Are they not excellent?" Fred asked.

            "We want to run a bag over to Hufflepuff. The first years should really know about the bravery that's a tradition in their house and at their school." George said. Harry noticed that the twins seemed unusually somber, though they were smiling. Harry supposed they felt slightly guilty about using the gold Harry had won in the triwizard tournament.  Harry couldn't possibly have used any of it himself, the price for it was simply too high. Apparently the Weasley's, while once removed from the actual events, felt the weight of that price as well.

       "I think that's a great idea," Harry told them and they relaxed.

       "Fantastic! We ran them by a group of Hufflepuffs on the train and they thought the candies were pretty good too. We just wanted to tell you first. You know," he shrugged and let the train of though drop. Harry nodded, he knew all to well.

       "Well," said Fred, "we better get these over there before they all go to bed."

       "Right. Night Harry," Harry waved as the twins slunk off to some secret passage or another out of the tower. Harry continued to chew the candy thoughtfully and returned to the middle of the common room. Many of the students had gone to bed, but a few were still up and chatting.

            "Hey, Harry. Come meet some of the new first years," Ron called. Harry smiled and joined the group. Noticed he still had two candies, he gave Ron the green one and Hermione the red.

            "Try these! The twins made them," Harry said and a small puff of blue smoke curled out of the side of his grinning mouth. 


	5. Classes begin

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Classes Begin

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       "Welcome to Transfiguration, the fourth year," Professor McGonagall addressed the class, "If you have an interest in learning the difficult art of becoming an Animagus, you may begin this year. Students who manage to accomplish this feat in a single year will not have to take the final. Now, as I understand it, we already have a student-Animagus in the class." The class looked at one another then remembered the new student.

       "Miss Green, you are a registered student-Animagus already, so I am sorry you cannot pass the final automatically unless you complete the requirements for your full registration,"

            "Yes, professor." Lisa said with a small smile.

       "Now students, the acquisition of an animal form is a very difficult and demanding task. The body wishes to stay in it's natural state and then wants to transform every which way once the transfiguration process begins," McGonagall lectured. The chalk on the ledge rose and began diagramming the spells related to Animagus transformation,  

       "This is part of why becoming an Animagus is so dangerous and difficult. It should be noted that acquiring a second form takes much more practice than the first and the third much more than the first or second and so on. Second and third forms are fairly rare among Animagi, but they are possible. Now you've all seen me transform, Miss Green, would you mind demonstrating for us?"

            "Uhm professor, it's rather large. So I don't think it would fit in this classroom well," Lisa said, her cheeks coloring.

            "You had Brownington as your professor? Ah, yes he did advocate tougher forms," Personally she thought he was daft for letting second years try and transfigure themselves into elephants and lions, but that was his business.," She shook her head, and said, "Well the American wizards have always been big on Animagus transformations, even since the native Americans ruled the continent, so I suppose it's to be expected. Well girl what can your turn into, then? The class is dying to know," she gave Lisa one of her rare smiles.

        "I can turn into a Roc."

       "What!" 

       "Woah!" 

       "Awsome!" 

       "That's insane!" 

       the class burst into a thousand comments and side conversations.

       "I'm not that good at it yet!" Lisa protested, "I still don't have my full license 'cause I still g-get stuck half, halfway sometimes and I hate doing it all the time," she said nervously, "I get so tired," her shoulders drooped, "And re-recently is hasn't been working so well," she hung her head in personal shame.

       "But that's still so awesome!" someone in the back of the room said. The entire class was murmuring and maneuvering to get a good look in case Lisa transformed.

        "That's so cool! Show us! Aww c'mon!" the class begged. Animagi transfigurations were generally the most impressive in the wizarding world and the chance to see one was a treat

       "Well, I told you, I'm still not very good at it," Lisa said as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

       "See?" She said, apparently having failed, thought the class couldn't see or sense any noticeable change.

       "Just keep trying," McGonagall instructed, "Smooth transfiguration takes lots of practice and fully I expect you to keep up the same intensive study here as you did at Hawkwing, young lady!

       "Now! Let us begin our lesson. Everyone take a chalkboard eraser and transfigure it into a rat using the spells you SHOULD have learned over the summer. Points will be taken off if it is covered in chalk dust."

       Meanwhile, the 5th year Gryffindors were having their first DADA class of the year. The teacher hadn't shown up yet and the class was busy whispering to one another.

       "I heard centaurs have poisonous blood! What if she gets cut during a lesson!"

       "That's Hinds you daft ninny! Half deer! Not half horse!"

       "What if her magic is so different from ours we can't do any of it and she fails us all!"

       "D'you think she eats oats and hay?"

       "I put an apple on her desk. Dad said he always did that for his new teachers in school. But they were all muggles, not centaurs."

       "Maybe we should have brought sugar lumps!"

       "She might be insulted by that."

       "Should I grab the apple before she gets here?"

       "I heard that centaurs were all blood-thirsty, war-crazed barbarians!"

       "Not the ones descended from Chiron, he was a good centaur and got on with people well. When I was little, my mum read about the ancient Greek wizards and creatures and the muggle and non-muggle mythology. It was really cool! I hope we go over it again in history this year."

       "I heard a seventh year say that centaurs were all "bloody loony stargazers" think she'll be like Madame Trelawney?"

       "Dear lord, I hope not. I can't stand the woman. She's convinced we're all going to die horrid deaths…"

       "Good afternoon, class"

       The class immediately shut up and faced the room as one, folding their hands on their desks or in their laps, and generally looking vaguely guilty. Professor Stonehoof smiled at them from the doorway and then walked into the room, her feet making a dull clip-clop sound on the wooden floor. Her honey colored hair was pulled back into a loose knot in back of her head and she wore a no nonsense leather vest over a long sleeved blue shirt. Her sleeves were rolled up past her elbows and she held a folder in one hand a piece of parchment in the other.

       "I, as you know, am Professor Stonehoof," she said cheerily as she placed the folder down, "Headmaster Dumbledore decided that the students here at Hogwarts would be quite benefited by more interaction with non-humans, and, what better way than to be taught by a non-human. Chironic-Centaurs and Humans have generally had very good relations, starting way back in ancient times when Chiron offered his wisdom and teachings to the heroes of old," She smiled at the class. 

       "In that vein, the headmaster thought it would be appropriate for me to teach you how to defend your selves against the dark creatures of the world. Humans," she said gazing over the class, "are not the only intelligent beings in the world and nor are they the only ones who need to learn to defend themselves against dark and terrible forces. Now, before we begin today's lesson on dark elves, are there any questions?"

       No one in the class raised their hand for a moment, and then Hermione frowned to herself and daringly raised her hand.

       "Miss, Granger," Stonehoof said after checking with the parchment enchanted to show the current seating arrangement in a class.

       "Professor, is centaur magic like wizard magic?"

       "Good question, Miss Granger. There are a great many similarities and differences of course, but most spells that wizards can do, can be done by centaurs or elves or magically inclined giants or Oni's or Naga's or any number of magical peoples of the world. However there are some differences in regards to where the power is coming from or how it is focused. Wizards use wands, for example, to focus their magic for very powerful spells. Centaurs do not use wands even for complex spells. For the most powerful of magical rites, often the power of many is needed and focused through a drawn power circle. Elf magic is far more natural than that of other species. You could say it leaks off of them and affects the world around them without much thought or direction on their part. It is something they do as naturally as breathing. Thus, they have fewer formally spoken spells than do wizards or centaurs. Some people can do things others only dream of. Or excel where others are quite poor. Elves are abysmal Animagi for example, and there are probably 10 Centaur seers to every elf seer and 5 elf seers to every wizard seer, but wizards are by far the best at transfiguration,"

       "So, if you don't have a wand, how're you going to teach us?" Neville Longbottom spoke up, then quickly raised his hand, having forgotten.

       "Another excellent question, please do remember to raise your hand first Mr. Longbottom. Centaurs will use gestures to direct their magic. For example," She picked up a piece of chalk from the ledge and tossed it towards the window, then pointed at it and yelled, "Incendio" The chalk burst into flames as it flew out the window and quickly turned to ash.

       "Wicked!" Ron exclaimed.

       "Thank you. Ah, another Weasley I see. I met your brothers earlier this morning." Professor Stonehoof said wryly. Ron's face quickly began to match his hair and she chuckled.

       "Now, any other questions before we begin? Seeing none, let us discuss dark elves. Now can anyone tell me what are the different types of elves in the world and are normal elves and dark elves the same?"

       Hermione's hand shot up faster than Harry's firebolt, but a few hands were not far behind hers. Harry glanced at Ron who shrugged and smiled. Ron approved of the new teacher thus far and Harry had to admit she seemed like another good choice for DADA. Harry placed her somewhere between Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall in the realm of sternness, but that was ok. He had a few questions of his own but didn't want to share them with the class and least of all her. He definitely didn't need to make an enemy of this new teacher when Snape had already taken off 10 points from Gryffindor that morning. It was the first day and already Gryffindor had lost 10 points!

       But Harry was still confused. His only encounter with centaurs had been with a handful in the forbidden forest, and they'd been…spacy. He'd thought them a decidedly odd people, but this teacher seemed so much more, well, Human, he supposed. He shrugged mentally. This was probably why Dumbledore had hired professor Stonehoof in the first place. Harry sat back and listened while Stonehoof explained about the division of the elves and the corruption and split of the dark elves from the light, into a completely different society. 


	6. All Settled in?

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All Settled in?

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       The weeks passed and the daily routine settled in before the first month was over. The first years were integrating into their houses well and most of the students liked their new teachers and curricula. Quidditch started up again and Harry was thrilled to be back on the team. Katie Bell had replaced their graduated captain Oliver Wood, and third year Jim Collins joined the team to fill their ranks and take over Wood'S position as Keeper. 

       "I hand picked him," Wood had said, "And he's lightning quick in defending the hoops!" Jim was quick in his boom and he was a nice guy too. He was a little quiet but Harry supposed it was because he was the new member. All in all, Harry found him to be a great addition to their team. Katie worked the team worked hard at practice and Fred and George made numerous jokes about actually missing Wood's "light" schedules after one particularly grueling session. But, Gryffindor won the first game of the season (against Ravenclaw) so their hard work was paying off. 

       The arrival of not one but THREE magical giants had caused quite a sir, but Rita Skeeter had seemed to take Hermione's threat to heart and no nasty articles had been written. Harry was somewhat worried about next year however. He'd mentioned to Hermione that she might enlist the help of Dumbledore or McGonagall in helping to keep her in check. 

       Draco had groused and moped about the school for a week after his father had attempted to get the new students removed and failed. The new Ravenclaw had been trained by her witch grandmother and was making excellent grades. As a part wizard she had a right to be at the school, no matter what Lucius Malfoy said. The other two were also making decent grades and certainly no trouble. The Huffelpuff had found he had a knack with potions and even Snape could be prodded into saying good things about him. The new Gryffindor had struck up friendships with several people outside his own year including Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom and Lee Jordan. The new students were exemplary aside for a few points here and there for snickering in Snape's class Most from the day a bottle of Root Pollen had fallen into a potion and melted Snape's cauldron and the stone floor beneath).

       Transfiguration was proving to be a very difficult class, as professor McGonagall had found new and interesting ways to make them work harder. But Harry had to admit he was learning a lot. Hagrid's class was exceptionally interesting as it always was, and Harry was glad his house no longer had that class with the Slytherins, as this year they had class with the Ravenclaws. Unfortunately they still had Potions with the Slytherins and Snape seemed to be more vindictive then all of his previous years combined. Gruffindor had lost almost fifty points by Halloween solely because of Snape. However they had managed to make the loss up twice over in DADA. 

       The Slytherins were the only house which people quite opposed to their new DADA teacher, but the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors ignored them. Harry and Ron really liked the new teacher, because as fifth years they were now allowed to learn some of the more impressive spells to keep away dark creatures and people. These generally included putting mild and amusing curses on one another and sending miniature fireballs, snowballs, mud-balls, waterballs, (or, in Neville's case, Snot-balls) at targets. In the weeks that followed Professor Stonehoof even brought in members of other magical races to meet her students. She'd invited a hag, a vampire in a special evening class, a heredity werewolf and a dwarf. It was definitely an interesting class and easily one of the most popular despite the work and research she required.

       Well, for most people it was a well liked class.

       "I had a horse just like her butt when I was younger. It stumbled and went lame and father had to put it down," Draco Malfoy's cold voice echoed across the hall. Several Gryffindors turned and cast glares at Malfoy and the tittering Slytherins at their house table.

       "Just ignore them," Hermione said, "If they wish to be small minded, that's their problem, not ours," she calmly sipped her water and her housemates grumbled and turned back to their original conversations.

       "Personally I don't see what's so wrong," Ginny frowned at the back of Malfoy's head and gave Goyle a nasty glare. That funny feeling of not-right-ness was back again, but she pushed it to the back of her head. She sighed and picked up her books, "Let's go Lisa, we have transfiguration. Lisa's shoulders drooped as she collected her books and trudged off behind Ginny.

       "What's her problem? Ron asked, after his younger sister and the other fourth year had gone.

       "She hasn't been able to perform her Animagus transformation all year. The closest she got was turning her hair into feathers," Hermione said sadly, "Actually She's been seeing Madame Pomfrey about it and practicing with professor McGonagall, but she just can't do it anymore."

       "Well, that's not good," Harry said. The new girl was pretty nice and had become one of Ginny's good friends. The whole of Gryffindor house had fully accepted her as one of their own, despite Fred and George's occasional teasing "Yank" remarks. Harry was also fairly certain Ron was going to ask Lisa to go to the annual Halloween party with him. So, of course, both he and Ron were sorry to hear she was having difficulty.

       "Bummer," Ron, shook his head, "Doubt there's anything we could really do to help, huh?"

       "I don't think so," Hermione said, "But I think it helps that none of the other fourth years are having any luck with their Animagus transformations,"

       "I thought about doing that least year, but everything go so busy and hectic, and with the tournament and all of that? Maybe I'll try this year," Ron said thoughtfully.

       "Ron, it requires a lot of W, O, R, K," Hermione spelled out and Ron made a face at her, "But I'm serious Ron, the Ministry has only recorded Seven Animagi," Ron gave her a look. The three of them, Harry, Ron and Hermione, all knew of at least 4 UN-registered Animagi. Well, three Animagi and one Bug-o-magi as Ron referred to Rita Skeeter (when he was being polite).

       "But, I'm serious," Ron stood and collected his books for his next class, "I mean it would be something no one else in my family can do. I mean my older brothers have all distinguished themselves somehow, and Ginny is the only girl. If I became an animagus, that'd set me apart and I'd have done something really impressive and it'd prove to you," he pointed a finger at Hermione, "That I'm not as lazy as you think!" Hermione snorted at that, clearly unable to equate Ron's work ethic with anything other than laziness.

       "So, what animal would you turn into," Harry asked. Ron grew thoughtful.

       "You know, I haven't thought about it that far. It'd have to be something Bold, and strong and yet smart and proud," Ron's eyes glazed over and Harry and Hermione shared amused glances behind his back.

       A very large black dog trotted by the line of trees at the edge of the forest. The dog trotted around some fallen trunks and headed for the edge of town. He made a wide path around the stately manor of the mayor of Hogsmede and headed into the thicker, wilder forest beyond. The dog looked around and made a long circular trip around a peaceful little clearing by a stream. He seemed to be looking for something. Finding nothing, the dog sat in the clearing and waited.

       A moment later a tall, old wizard was suddenly there. The dog turned and looked at the man, then wagged his tail.

       "Hello Sirius," Dumbledore smiled down at the dog. The dog transformed into a man with a ragged robe and shaggy hair. He was gaunt and his expression grim, but Dumbledore could see relief in the man's eyes. "I was surprised to get a letter from you," Dumbledore admitted and handed the thin man a bag of muffins from the kitchens. Black took the bag and nodded thanks.

       "I thought you should know," His voice was gruff and unused to speaking, "I overheard two not so careful DeathEaters. Perrin Jamison and Michael Mardeberry," Black said and took a large bit out of the first muffin,"

       "They were two that suddenly came back after Voldemort was defeated the first time," Dumbledore said thoughtfully, and Black nodded and swallowed his bite.

       "They were speaking about some of their plans, and they weren't being too careful who they said them around. They were in a small Muggle village just outside of Bristol," Sirius said, "They seemed to be talking about sending something or someone very powerful into Hogwarts. And from what I heard, they'd been successful," Sirius said and began to devour his muffins.

       "Interesting," Dumbledore mused, "thank you for this information Sirius, I will inform the other teachers and we will monitor the situation."

       Sirius nodded and handed the now empty food sack back to Dumbledore. "Would you tell Harry hello for me and apologize to him. I'm sorry I couldn't see him this visit," Sirus asked. Dumbledore nodded. Sirius turned back into his dog form and trotted out of the clearing. Dumbledore watched him go for a moment, then apparated.

       When Dumbledore reached his office he sat behind his desk and gave Fawkes a chocolate fly from Hogsmede. He then tapped the small crystal ball on the corner of his desk.

       "Minerva, I'd like to see you when you get a chance," He said. In the smoky globe professor McGonagall's head nodded.

       "I'll be right up," she said and the globe's misty interior cleared.

       She arrived a few minutes later. "Is everything alright," she asked, taking a seat across from him.

       "Perhaps. Perhaps not. I just had a very interesting conversation," Dumbledore then told her about his conversation with Sirius, 

       "Do you think it's the new fourth year? One of the new first years? Oh, you don't think Professor Stonehoof, do you? Or one of the Giants?" She asked, aghast. Dumbledore shook his head.

       "I am not certain. Not certain at all. I do know it isn't our new professor, but as for the others, I do not. I would like to think not, but I do think we should be very vigilant. Very vigilant indeed."

       "Well I suppose having another pair of eyes will help," Minerva offered as she handed a bit of parchment covered in flowing script to Dumbledore. Dumbledore read it and nodded.

       "This year keeps getting more and more interesting."

       "An entire house of people like Fred and George!?" Ginny gasped in horror. Two of them was bad enough, but nearly fifty!

       "Yep," Lisa said as she sipped her morning tea, "you know, I think I'm actually getting used to this stuff. It's definitely much nicer than coffee," she indicated the tea with her free hand.

       "I still can't believe it!"

       "Oh, they're not all that bad," Lisa said, "The Corvidae, are dedicated to entertainment and fun and the happiness of all. They're the closest thing we have to a muggle performing arts school I think. It's because of their mascot. The native legends describe Raven as a creator and a trickster. It sums them up quite well I think. 'course we're not nearly as segregated as you all are here. We room in mixed company most of the time. One of my last roommates was a Corvidae. Bloody good artist, too. Oh, I didn't just say "bloody" did I?" Lisa asked, and made a disgusted face. Ginny and the other 4th year girls at the table laughed.

       "Just watch! Soon you'll pick up the accent and start calling things by their proper names. Like chips and crisps! And lifts and coaches!" Suzannah Smith, another fourth year joked. 

       "Soon I'll be saying things like "Bugger" and "Wicked" and "Snogging"," she giggled.

       The table laughed again as a great Woosh-ing noise sounded above.

       "Oh, mail's here," Hermione said as she, Ron and Harry sat at the breakfast table, near Ginny and her classmates.

       Hedwig and Pig flew down in tandem, carrying a bulky package between them. It was a bag of cookies for Ron to share with his sister, brothers, Harry and Hermione from Mrs. Weasley. Hedwig took a piece of cookie offered to her by Harry then Hooted and went off to the Owlry. Pig hopped around after being given his piece of cookie by Ron then zoomed out of the window.

       "I wonder if I should have given him a bit with chocolate in it. Sugar and hyperactive owl really aren't a good combination," Ron mused.

       "I wonder what this is," Lisa muttered to herself. A big barn owl had dropped a small package in her toast. He picked it up and examined the writing on the outside. "Huh," She said and began pulling of the cording which kept the brown paper on, "It's from my parents." The contents of the package was a small dark brown glass bottle with a metal and glass stopper. Written on the outside of the bottle in a neat script, were instructions.

            "What is it?" Ginny asked.

            "Some sort of medication my family doctor said I should have," she shrugged, "the note says they already cleared it with Madame Pomfrey," she shrugged again and slipped the bottle into her coat.

            That evening at dinner Dumbledore stood and motioned for silence.

            "A bit of an announcement. We will shortly be getting a student teacher on Friday. First years can expect to meet her in charms class. Fifth years will meet her in potions. Have a good evening."

            The room erupted into conversation as Dumbledore sat back down. He and McGonagall shared a smile. Snape rolled his eyes when he thought no one was looking. 

            "A student teacher for Flitwick AND Snape?" Ron mused. It was as an unlikely combination as one could possibly hope for.

            "Maybe they decided Snape was being too harsh on us during lessons," Harry wondered.

            "Or maybe it's a lesson FOR Snape," Hermione arched an eyebrow, her brown eyes glittered. Harry and Ron looked at one another and shrugged.

            "Well I know potions will definitely be interesting," Ron muttered. 

            "Well," at least these pills don't taste all that bad," Lisa said after washing the first green tablet down with a glass of water.

            "Have you thought of your questions for tomorrow's guest?" Saina Coldman asked the room in general. Tendrils of red and orange smoke were flowing from her mouth as she spoke. A green tendril was added as she ate another Puff and then passed the bag of sweets to the next girl. Tomorrow, they'd have another guest in DADA and the fourth year girls were all discussing who or what I might be.

            "What d'you think it's gonna be?" Ginny asked.

            "I heard a seventh year say its gonna be a Lamia," Saina said.

            "I heard either Oni or Naga," Suzannah said.

            "Well I suppose we'll find out," Gunny yawned and flopped dramatically into her bed. The forth years wished one another good night and went to sleep. 


	7. Another new teacher?

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Another new teacher

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            Harry stepped into Dumbledore's office and looked around. McGonagall had given him a message saying that the headmaster has wanted a word with him after classes were over that day. Harry had nodded and here he was, but Dumbledore was currently not in his office. Harry sat in one of the leather chairs with a sigh and looked around. The old wizards in the pictures on the wall were mostly snoozing in the warm afternoon sun, and a few had gotten together and were playing cards in one of the larger frames. There was a tapping on the window and Harry looked up. A large red and gold bird looked at him imploringly from a perch affixed to the wall just outside the window. Harry smiled and got up to open the window.

            "Hello Fawkes," he greeted the phoenix as the large bird stepped into the room. Fawkes hopped to his perch and gave Harry a trill of thanks.

            "You're quite welcome," Harry told him as he closed the window.

            "Ah, Thank you, I was worried I wouldn't be back before he was finished with his afternoon flight," Dumbledore said from the doorway.

            "You wanted to see me?" Harry asked as he retook his seat across from the great oak desk.

            "Yes. I saw your godfather. He said to say hello and that he was terribly sorry he couldn't see you this time," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

            "You saw Sirius! He's ok isn't he?" Harry asked, worried that the Dementors had caught Black.

            "A bit thin, but he seemed well," Dumbledore told him, "But he seemed to think that Voldemort was up to something. No doubt it involves you." Harry sighed and sank back into the chair.

            "Well," Dumbledore continued, "Our new student teacher is someone you are acquainted with and she wanted to stop by and say hello to you before she saw you in class tomorrow," Harry sat up with interest.

            "Oh?" he couldn't think of anyone he knew who had expressed interest in trying to get a job as a teacher in Hogwarts. Dumbledore smiled and tapped the crystal ball on the corner of his desk.

            "He's here now," he said to it. A moment later the door opened.

            "'Arry!" 

            Harry was dumbstruck for a moment but then he smiled and got out of his seat. "Fleur," He said warmly shaking her hand. He and Ron had discussed her trying to get a job to improve her English over the summer, but they had let the idea drop after Hermione and Ginny and even Harry himself had gotten sick of hearing Ron moon over his memory of Fleur

            "I said I was going to try and get a job 'ere and improve my English," She said with a grin. She seemed a lot less formal than the last time he'd seen her just before Beauxbatons had departed. Ron was going to have a fit.

            "Welcome to Hogwarts," Harry said and meant it. In the back of his mind he wondered how Krum and the Durmstrang's were doing. Mrs. Weasley had heard something about a new headmaster, but hadn't had any details to share.

            "Merci," she replied, "I 'ope you will not be too, 'ow you zay, put out, by my teaching you potions?"

            "Oh, no, not at all," Harry said. Somehow he hadn't figured Fleur for being one with a great skill in potions. Charms with Professor Flitwick made sense, but Potions?

            "Ah, wonderful," Dumbledore said, "Now Harry if you want to tell everyone who the new student teacher is, that's fine. But you may keep it a secret if you like. They'll find out soon enough tomorrow," he winked. Harry grinned.

            "Oh, I think I'll let them find out on their own," he said with a grin. Ron was going to have an absolute fit!

            The morning of October first dawned crisp and clear. The winds seemed to hint the coming of winter as they blew fallen leaves around. The forbidden forest was a riot of colors. The leaves had turned the traditional red, gold and orange along beside the rebellious trees whose leaves turned blue, purple and even plaid in defiance. A few evergreens seemed to regard the cacophony of color with mild disgust and had taken to ignoring the rest of the trees all together. 

       The students at Hogwarts awoke to the smell of Fall; half rotted leaves, baking foods heavy in ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon with liberal amounts of pumpkin added in, and the great smoky fire in the common room of each house and in the great hall. It really seemed like Halloween (and the first little break of the year) was just around the corner and the students felt energetic as they went down to breakfast. Well, most did…

            "Ugh, My head," Lisa moaned into her toast,

            "You ok?" Hermione asked.

            "Yeah. Something isn't agreeing with me. I bet it was those awful things you Brits eat. Yorkshire puddings? Ugh, that HAD to be it," she winked at Hermione who chuckled good naturedly.

            "Eat a doughnut, feel better," Ron said, but as his mouth was currently full of doughnut, his words came out rather garbled and powdered sugar burst from his lips in a puff of exhaled air.

            "Don't talk and eat," Ginny scolded. Ron swallowed,

            "Yes, Mum," he mocked. "So!" he said rather suddenly, "I've been thinking. I want to be a Manticore!" The table looked at him blankly.

            "Poor boy's gone crazy," Fred said to George and patted Ron on the head.

            "I have not!" Ron protested, "I've given this a lot of thought. They're like lions and they can fly. And-"

            "Oh, are you talking about that Animagus transformation again," Harry asked,

            "Yeah!"

            "But Manticores have scorpion tails!" Ginny squealed.

            "Right!" Ron grinned, "No one'd mess with me. I got the whole tail thing on top of the lion thing!"

            "But they have three sets of teeth," Hermione said, "and they eat children!"

            "Well I wouldn't!" Ron assured her, "and they can fly! Think of it Harry, you and I could go out for a bit of air and I wouldn't need a broom!" The table once again looked at him blankly.

            "Riiiight" Hermione said.

            "Well, you could do it, but it's a bitch to do magical animals. Just look at me," Lisa said, "I could do it really well all last year and now I can barely turn my hair into feathers. I suggest you try for a real lion, or perhaps a real hawk or something if you want to go flying."

            "I think you should speak with professor McGonagall about it," Harry told him.

            "Yeah, I guess that'd be as good a place to start as any. Especially considering I don't know how to begin,"

            "It was on the final," Hermione said and gave Ron a look.

            "Oh. Missed that one," he grinned cheekily.

            "So I made an appointment to see McGonagall this afternoon…Why is he grinning like that?" Ron asked Hermione. Harry had had this odd look on his face all day and yesterday too. He'd had it since he'd come back from being summoned to Dumbledore's office in fact. Hermione looked over and caught Harry's eye. Harry simply grinned and tried to look innocent.

            "He knows something," Hermione said, eyes narrowing as she tried to figure out what.

            "Ok, settle down." Snape strode into the dungeon. The Slytherins and Gryffindors all grew quiet. The silence was shattered as Nevllie's cauldron clattered to the floor. "Five points from Gryffindor," Snape snapped and glared at them all.

            "We have a student teacher. I expect you all to be on your best behavior. Mister Longbottom, I hope you can avoid any further embarrassing incidents in my class. Ah. Here she is." Snape's eyes flickered to the back of the room. The class turned and Ron did a double take. Fleur was standing in the doorway, a heavy book under one arm and her wand in her other hand. She wore silvery robes which set off her silvery hair and highlighted her inhuman beauty.

            "Bonjour," she greeted them brightly. Ron gurgled something which might have been a greeting, but he wasn't the only boy in the class to do so. Several Slythein boys stared as Fleur strode across the dungeon and stood next to professor Snape. Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode gave identical sighs of annoyance and smacked Ron and Goyle respectively. Ron shot Harry a nearly murderous glare.

            "You knew!" he hissed.

            "A further five points from Gyrffindor," Snape said and Ron's jaw shut with a click of his teeth.

            "Today we are going to learn about finding out what was IN a potion someone else made. Open your books," Snape growled.

            Ron peeked around the corner of McGonagall's office, but she wasn't at her accustomed place behind her desk. Ron supposed she'd been called away from her normal office hours for something important, so he set his satchel down and sat in the leather chair across from her desk. Ron has never gotten a good look at her office before. Well, considering that really the only time he'd been there was to be scolded, he could really be forgiven for not taking a good snoop around because of more important and pressing things. 

       The room was small and cozy unlike Snape's Spartan office. A small crystal ball sat on the edge of her desk next to a bit of rolled parchment and a quill. A lovely painting of a pair of owls roosting on a branch in winter was hung on one wall next to a bookcase. The owls reminded Ron of Hedwig and he smiled as one turned its head and blinked its great yellow eyes at him. The bookcase was filled from floor to ceiling with books of all shapes and sizes, most very old. McGonagall's deep emerald winter robe was hung on a brass fixture by the door, her pointed hat perched on top, so Ron knew she hadn't left the school, but he wondered where she was. Ron looked out the window and noticed that the professor had a spectacular view of the Quidditch field and what looked like quite a comfy window seat to go with it

            Ron was looking around for a clock when a tabby cat sprinted into the office at a dead run. The cat nearly fell over herself in surprise when she saw Ron sitting in the chair, but she quickly recovered her composure and transformed back to herself mid-stride.

            "Mr. Weasley," she said and took the seat behind her desk, "I do apologize for being late. I was attending to something,"

            "Oh, " Ron said, "That's no problem," he'd attempted to study how she'd transformed from a cat into a human without missing a step, but the process always got blurry in his minds eye as limbs and clothing did things they really shouldn't do in reality. "Does it hurt?" he blurted out and immediately regretted it. That was not how he'd intended on beginning this conversation. She arched an eyebrow.

            "Does what hurt?" She asked.

            "You know, turning into a cat," Ron told her. The second eyebrow went up and her expression softened considerably.

            "Actually no," She admitted, "it's something of a mild sense of pressure but nothing more. Though doing the transformation incorrectly can be excruciating,"

            "Oh, that's good. Er I guess," Ron said, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, "because I've decided I want to try and become an Animagus," he stated firmly. Inwardly Minerva was chuckling at the determined set of Ron's jaw, but she was also terribly pleased. She decided to simply nod. 

            "It's a very difficult spell since it requires no wand to cast, simply the force of will to direct the magic. Performed incorrectly, it can be quite painful, as I mentioned. But if you are determined to work hard and achieve your goal, I will assist you, and you will no doubt succeed," she said. Ron blinked.

            "So, er, you think I can do it?" he asked somewhat hesitantly. Apparently this hadn't been the response he'd been expecting.

            "I think that anyone who works at it hard enough will eventually be able to transform," She said levelly, "and I do think you are fully capable of applying yourself to the task, Mr.Weasley,"

            "…Wow. Thanks. Er. So, where do I begin?"

       She stood and went to the tall bookcase and scanned the gilded titles of the books there. She chose a fairly hefty volume bound in green dragon hide. She sat down at her desk and placed both hands possessively on the book.

            "This book will guide you through the process," she told him, "It will require much study and you WILL need to read all of it. Because becoming an Animagi is such a dangerous process, the text on the latter pages will not be revealed until you have actually read the pages before. What I suggest you do to start, is to read the book. The entire book, Mr. Weasley, and then we will begin actually trying to turn you into something," Ron's face fell a little.

            "Mr. Weasley, do not let the prospect of work stand in your way. If you just sit down and do a thing, it will get done. The reasoning for reading the entire book first is so that you have a good idea of what you are actually doing. The reading is not the hard part, nor is it the slow part. The difficult task is actually applying what you have learned," She slid the book across the desk so that it was close to Ron, but she kept her fingertips firmly on the book, preventing him from taking it.

            "Once you have read the book, and I expect you will do so quickly if you set your mind to it, I will instruct you on the next phase which is actual transformation.  But between then and now, I suggest you think of what you wish to turn into," she removed her fingers from the book and Ron was able to read the cover which said simply; Animagus.

            "Yes, Professor," Ron said and took the book and held it close.

            "I assume you have given some thought as to what you wish to become?" her tone had changed into a more informal one.

            "I was thinking perhaps a Manticore," Ron's grin was huge. McGonagall blinked.

            "Well I certainly hope you aren't planning on eating any of your classmates,"

******************************

First set of chapters posted. I really want help on this next bit and some comments so far. I have another 2-3 semi complete chapters but I need to decide something first!

What sort of Animal should Ron practice to be? I couldn't decide! I was thinking maybe a Griffin or a lion or a hawk. I'd think he'd like to be something that can fly though. It'd very useful.  Ideas?

*********************************


	8. Wake up call

"Wake up"

Lisa rolled over in bed and pulled the covers past her head.

"WAKE UP!"

"No," a small voice she thought was her own answered.

_"WAKE UP" the voice insisted._

"But, I don-"

**_"WAKE UP!" Lisa was now completely awake, or she thought she was. The room was fuzzy and she had an odd floating feeling. Somewhere another voice was screaming at her. Older, female, trying desperately to get her attention. The louder voice told her to ignore the smaller one. She found she couldn't ignore it, so she simply tried to tune it out as best she could. The voice became a constant buzz in the back of her skull. It was like a bee had gotten caught there and was tickling her mind as it flew around trying to escape. She got out of bed and walked down the stairs to the common room._**

"Miss Green," a voice said. Lisa turned and saw professor McGonagall looking at her. The voice in her head hissed and disappeared. The buzzing voice went silent in a moment of what felt like shock, then shouted triumphantly. Then the louder voice began screaming at her in words she could not understand and Lisa felt slightly dizzy. The smaller voice was fading and now shouting desperately. Lisa's head began to pound. 

Suddenly Lisa was in the common room. Professor McGonagall was there for some reason. Lisa was dressed for bed and couldn't remember how she'd gotten  down the steps

"Are you all right?" McGonagall asked her.

"I, uh, I think so. Was I sleep walking?" she asked.

"Yes I think so,"

"oh, I'll go back to bed. I'm not in any trouble am I?"

"Not for sleep walking. Back to bed with you."

"G'night Professor,"

Minerva watched Green climb the tower steps and wondered. The poor girl had been overexerting herself trying to pull her transfiguration off and had met with no success. Poppy had gotten absolutely nothing from delving her. Usually she'd get something when she delved one of her patients, but the girl was a completely blank slate according to Poppy. Minerva herself couldn't think of why the girl couldn't transform. Green had, had the appropriate papers and Minserva's owl had indeed gotten conformation from the international registrar that Green indeed had her student's license for Animagi transfigurations. Minerva sighed and shook her head. Usually stress caused deep sleep not sleepwalking.

The girl really had looked like she was sleepwalking though. The glazed, unfocused expression was definitely not an act. She'd caught the Weasley twins faking sleep walking many times and knew the difference quite well. In fact she was up this evening to stop a particularly nasty prank she'd gotten wind of them plotting. 

"Poor girl," she thought, "She's taking not being terribly successful with her transformation very hard," McGonagall shook her head and then put her hands on her hips. "Just a moment if you will, Fred, George," She said without turning around. Behind her, George and Fred looked at her slack jawed for a moment before hastily stuffing their bag of mayhem under the nearest couch.

"What?" George asked, scratching his head, "What? Fred, how'd we get here?"

"Why are you in my dream George?" Fred asked.

"Why, we haven't been sleep-walking again have we, Professor?"

"Boys, back to bed,"

"Thanks for waking us Professor, who knows what might have happened if you hadn't been here."

"Indeed,"

Under her watchful eye the twins made their way back to their beds all the while making a large show of being sleepy. When they got to their room, Fred turned to George and muttered "Geez, she's almost as good as Mum," his brother nodded and they immediately began planning on how to get around her next time.

"I must be dreaming," Hermione said as she slid into the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Ron looked up from his book for a moment and shot her a glare before turning back to it.

"I have to read this if I want to become an Animagus," He told her loftily then turned the page. Hermione looked on with interest as words spilled across the blank page.

"I don't think I have seen that book before," Hermione's eyes had an almost hungry look in them.

"Professor McGonagall gave it to me yesterday. She got it from her book shelf. It's called Animagus, and it has a lot of helpful tips on transfiguring things. Right now I am reading a sort of history of Animagus spells," Ron said absently and turned the page once more. Hermione's mouth formed into a surprised 'O' and she watched Ron read. Harry smirked. Hermione looked like she wanted to race to McGonagall and get a copy of the book for herself.

"So, have you given more thought to what you'd like to become?" Harry asked Ron.

"Some," said Ron, still reading. He reached up and buttered a piece of toast without looking and began eating it, careful not to get any crumbs on the pages.

"Who is he and what has he done with Ron," Hermione hissed at Harry who shrugged.

"I don't think I'll go with the Manticore anymore," Ron told them, "I've been thinking of a griffin, but that's a magical creature and those are difficult. You actually gain a little bit of what you turn into so theoretically I'd gain from griffin powers. Those can complicate changes and I am not entirely sure I'd do well with six limbs. On the other hand if I became a hawk I don't know what I'd do without hands. Griffins have hand-paws and can pick things up. They also have the ability to speak human languages which could be a real bonus. How ever if I wanted a form I could sneak around in, that would be a bad one. Cats are very popular. The first Animagi were Egyptian wizards. I think I heard that when we took the trip to Egypt," Ron informed his friends. Hermione and Harry were having a hard time not laughing. This was the first time they'd seen their friend so engrossed in anything remotely related to academics.

"Er, you did remember to do your normal transfiguration homework, right Ron?" Harry asked. They'd been assigned reading about turning desks into pigs, a trick McGonagall had done during their very first transfiguration class. Ron grunted what Harry thought could possibly be a yes and shrugged at Hermione who was shaking her head. 

The class stood behind their desks and McGonagall was going around the room, watching each student attempt the transfiguration, and marking notes on apiece of parchment. Neville's desk had squealed and run out of the classroom at a high gallop. McGonagall had pinched the bridge of her nose and had wordlessly pointed out the door. Neville gave a little squeak and chased after his desk. McGonagall next went to Lavender Brown. Lavender was bleary eyed from staying out too late to watch the planets align in some configuration or other and she made a very lovely wooden pig carving out of her desk. Harry managed to turn his desk into a wooden pig that moved so he got a few more points than Lavender had. Hermione diligently turned her desk into a pig and back again. She, of course, got full points. Dean Thomas managed to make his desk into a pig, but its fur pattern still looked like wood grain. 

Finally it was Ron's turn. McGonagall cleared her throat and Ron looked up from his book somewhat sheepishly. To everyone's great surprise McGonagall didn't chew him out. In fact she actually wore a bemused smile. Ron put his book safely down on another desk and rolled back his sleeves and stared at his desk. He then quite suddenly and authoritatively flicked his wand and said: "Volutabrum!" Ron's desk turned into a large boar with a small "pop." The boar looked around with some confusion. Neville walked in the door after having caught his desk. The boar stared at Neville, Neville stared at the boar. Neville squeaked just as a boar let out an aggressive grunt. Ron acted quickly and turned the boar back into his desk. Neville exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Excellent Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall praised and gave him full marks. Ron grinned sheepishly. 

"That was awesome Ron!" Harry said. Many other students in the class were congratulating him as well. Ron's face grew red and he ran a hand through his hair. "This book is really great! It's taught me a lot of hints on how to approach transfiguration," he said. Hermione was looking at Ron, mouth slightly agape.

"You'll catch flies if you leave it open to long," Harry told her quietly. She shut her mouth and looked from Ron to Harry and back again. She smiled slightly.

"Who would've though Ron was so good at transfiguration," she said. Harry shrugged. They helped move the desks back into their proper order and they all sat down. McGonagall walked by Ron's desk, took his book, put the page marker in it and placed it on her desk. She smiled at him then began the next topic. Ron sighed, looked longingly at the book (to Harry and Hermione's amusement) and then began paying rapt attention to the lecture. When it was over, McGonagall handed the book back to Ron and he accepted it eagerly with a quick thanks.

"So, what really is in that book that suddenly you are a fantastic transfiguration student. Last week you only could manage a block of stone that looked like a carved frog in stead of a real frog." Hermione asked Ron. She'd placed her hand in front of what he was reading (as Ron had done many times, Harry noted with much amusement) to get his attention. They stopped in the hallway and the rest of the students flowed around them like water flows around a boulder in the middle of a stream.

"Well the first part has some really interesting stuff you can think about when you're going to transfigure something. The first chapter is called "Physics and How to Ignore it" and it gives a few mental model type things. They've really helped me. I could never really wrap my brain around how suddenly an object could be a boulder one minute and then a chicken or something the next," Ron said. The three looked around and noticed the hallways were emptying.

"Oh crap! We have to get to Divination Ron!" Harry said. Hermione squeaked as she realized she'd be late for Arithramancy.

"Can I look at the book later?" Hermione asked over her shoulder and she began to speed walk down the hall.

"I guess," Ron called back. The boys raced down the hall towards the staircase to the north tower. They jumped over Peeves who was lying on the floor like some sort of vaporous hurdle. He was apparently asleep and that was fine with Ron and Harry. The poltergeist was terribly annoying while he was awake. They sprinted up the staircase and then scrambled up the ladder through the round trap door.


	9. Reading Signs and Portents

They slumped into mismatched leather chairs, slightly out of breath, happy they weren't late.

"Good afternoon," Madame Trelawney said in her wavering voice. Lavender and Pavarti  immediately straightened in their poufs and watched Madame Trelawney with rapt attention.

"Today, we shall be going over tarot cards," she began passing out stacks of cards to the students. Ron slid his stack out of their box and looked at them skeptically.

"So, we bet on what sort of future we get? How do we get a royal flush? Oh hey! They got a king and queen here, I guess that's how."

"Tarot card readings is an art form," Trelawney had just finished giving out set of cards to each student, "We will begin with Classic Tarot. Even Muggles can sometimes tap into the spiritual plane with these sets of cards. We will move into proper Tarot in a short bit. For now, you have each been given a small booklet which describes the portents and meanings of the cards the querant chooses. You are all in pairs. One of you should hand the other his or her deck and shuffle it anyway you like it. Then hand the deck back and sort the cards into little piles. The querant should then turn over cards one by one and the other partner should read the descriptions from the book. But first you must familiarize yourself with the cards and their meanings. Take a look at the decks you have been given for a few moments and then begin practicing reading one another."

Ron and Harry exchanged glances. "Why are we in this class again?" Harry asked Ron, who shrugged.

"Arithremancy is just scary?" Ron proposed, "Hey!" he said handing a card to Harry, "Who does that look like?" Harry examined the card in the poor light of the tower room. Ron had given him the "High Priestess" a woman in a tight fitting, dark green dress was holding aloft a glowing blue and white ball. A ruby encrusted staff of some sort was in her relaxed other hand. A tabby cat was sitting next to her flowing robes. Harry watched as the cat in the picture yawned and then began batting the dangling silver charms which hung off the staff. 

"Doesn't look like her?" Ron asked him. Harry looked at the face of the High priestess and did a double taken the quickly stifled a laugh. The High Priestess on the card looked just like McGonagall. He and Ron exchanged the briefest of snickers before schooling their features and Trewlawney floated by.

"The High Priestess: a wise woman or person, able to make smart decisions," Ron read aloud.

"Fitting," Harry mused then passed the card back to Ron.

"Here! Look at this one!" Ron handed Harry another.  The Magician. It was obviously Dumbledore. He sat behind his desk and seemed to be eating sweets. What was unmistakably Fawkes was perched on the back of his chair. Symbols and pictures faded in and out around him. The next, Death, was Snape. He was sitting in his dungeon and slapping the tip of his wand against the open palm of his other hand. He glared at them from the card. 

The next card sent them into silent gales of laughter. The Fool was Madame Trelawney. She was perched on one of her leather pouf stools and wore a jester's hat. She was drinking tea, reading the leaves, trying to scry a crystal ball and laying tarot cards.

"The Fool," Ron read, "Not looking before you leap. Not paying attention to the important things. Not being able to see the woods for the trees," Harry and Ron burst into laughter and then stopped suddenly when Trelawney shot them a glare from across the room. They hurriedly packed Ron's deck away and took out Harry's. Finding that none of the pictures on Harry's deck resembled any of the faculty they tried the reading exercise. Harry handed Ron the deck which he shuffled quickly. Harry then lay the cards out in neat little piles. Ron reached over and turned over a card. It was "The Heirophant".

"OK," Harry said and consulted the little book, "It's reversed so it means 'Breaking out of the mold; finding ones' self and one's niche in society,' Huh. Ok try another. The Chariot: 'Resolve to do something; power. Triumphing over an obstacle.' Ok next, Temperance. Right," Harry flipped through the book and found the card's entry. "This says it means 'Taking a situation and molding it into one of your own choosing'" Harry said and then was sort of quiet, "You don't think it's anything but circumstance that these cards could all relate to you wanting to become an Animagus, do you?" Harry asked. He and Ron exchanged a glance.

"Nah," they said together.

" 'Kay here's the next one," Ron said and flipped the card, "The Sun," he said to Harry.

"Right… here we are. Oh! This says you'll have a bit of good luck."

"Wait, wait we're predicting positive things!? In _Divination?" Ron asked, "There has to be a mistake," he laughed. Harry had to agree. Madame Trelawney always predicted horrible things for everyone. _

"I think I like Tarot," Harry said, "Lets do mine," The collected the deck and Harry was shuffling the cards when Madame Trelawney came by and somberly handed them another stack of cards.

"This is a wizarding tarot deck. Put away the other decks and try with this," Harry nodded and took the deck from her. "How did the reading go, Boys" she asked.

"I got the reverse Heirophant, the Chariot, Temperance and The Sun," Ron told her cheerily, "Looks like I'm going to make a bit of a change in my life, find my niche in society and have a bit of luck doing it," He said. Madame Trelawney's eyes narrowed, as if she couldn't believe that anyone could possibly get those cards without stacking the deck. She sniffed, nodded and went to distribute more wizarding decks.

"Right then, "Harry said and began shuffling. The wizard deck was probably twice as large as the normal deck and it took him a bit more time to shuffle.

"Flip them around and stuff," Ron said, "it'll make it more interesting." Harry nodded and flipped a few cards around. After a moment more, he handed Ron the deck. Ron sorted the cards into little piles.

"Ok," Harry picked a card which was in the center of one pile and flipped it over.

"The Owl," Ron read. A Tawny owl was continually flying in the picture. Harry watched as the sky behind it moved.

"The Owl means you will receive something," Ron said, "Do cookies from my mum count? Try another. Oh, the Star. Secrets are hidden from you and possibly more people. Ok, the Devil. Hmm is someone indebted to you Harry?" Ron asked. Harry immediately thought of Wormtail and the night two years past when he'd stopped Black and Lupin from killing him.

"Not that I really know of," Harry said instead. He had a chill going up the back of his spine. Ron didn't seem to notice and for that Harry was very glad. He turned over his next card.

"oooOOOOOooo," Ron chortled and Harry's cheeks pinked, "The _LOVERS. A partnership or union. 'Cept in the wizarding deck it might mean you're just playing match maker or something," Ron said. The next card was the "Dragon and the Phoenix". The phoenix and the dragon seemed to fly in little circles, head to tail. The dragon was a long Chinese fireball, and the Phoenix had gold tipped feathers and was a much darker red than Fawkes. Harry couldn't really describe why, but the felt that the phoenix was female and the dragon was male. The background behind the phoenix was a dark color and followed it around its circular path. The background behind the dragon was white and followed the dragon_

"Diametrically opposed opposites. Male and female or Good and evil. Or something like that. It lists a bunch. Anyway, 'This is a powerful card,' " Ron read, " 'It generally is strongest when the querer has also turned over the…lovers.' Heh," Ron smirked, "It means the querer might be the center of an unexpected love affair or he might be the catalyst for an unexpected attraction or alliance of some sort. And you might not be part of it, you might just cause it. Tough luck pal. Try again."

Harry wasn't sure he wanted to continue, but he turned over the next card.

"The Werewolf," Ron said and looked for the entry.

"It's inverted," Harry said and Ron nodded absently as he watched the man turn into a wolf and back again.

"OK, got it. Not-Inverted means that someone is fully capable of transforming themselves and they don't want to. Someone around you has the power of changing themselves, but inverted means they cannot change. They wish to but are prevented by some other force from doing so. This is sometimes an actual physical change but more often it's a spiritual one. Huh, any ideas?"

"None,"

"Right, next?"

"The Grim," a large black dog was walking in some dark mist.

"Geez don't let Trelawney see that one Harry. It means Death. Not necessarily the death of the querer."

"Or it could just mean I'll see a big black dog," Harry said hopefully. Ron smiled,

"Hey there is that," he said, also brightening.

"The Rose. It means a sort lived acquaintance. Well we _DO get a new DADA teacher every year." A Rose grew quickly and died a few times as they watched._

"That's true. Ok how about, The Harlequin?" Harry asked and showed Ron his next card. A woman in black and white danced around. She turned and suddenly the black and white were on the reverse sides they had been and the woman was a man.

"Things are not what they seem. Huh now it says to pick the next three together, from different piles and do it quickly." Harry nodded and did so.

"OK. The Magician, the High Preistess and The Warrior."

"What does the warrior look like?"

"What?"

"Well it says here it has a lot of variations. What does it look like."

"Uhm it's a woman and she's wearing some sort of armor. And she's holding a staff in both hands. There's a sunrise behind her."

"Ok so that's the Auror," Ron said and peered at the book, "I wish Trelawney would have better lighting in here. OK the Auror, in conjunction with the Magician and the High Priestess. Well it doesn't say anything about that particular combination, so lets think."

"Uhm I meet a female Auror?"

"Possibly. The two other cards might be other people or descriptions of the Auror. Or you briefly meet three people like that or just one person who has the qualities of all three. Remember the rose card. Or you help an Auror catch someone with those qualities or maybe the Auror is the wereworlf Or The high priestess is Or-"

"Ugh, I remember why I hate this. It's so indefinite." Harry sighed.

"Yeah. Well pick the next card. Only one more after that,"

"OK. The World."  The card showed a beautiful picture of the planet. It looked like the pictures from space Harry had seen on TV when he was home for summers.

"The World means that things will come full circle. The queerer must be aware that there are sometimes circles within circles. Interesting," Ron said.

"Yes. Most interesting." Trelawney said. The boys looked up and saw that several people were watching Harry's tarot reading with interest. Harry flushed and Ron looked around warily.

"I see you will once again meet the Grim face to face," Trelawney said, stroking the card with the big black dog almost lovingly. Harry shuddered.  She looked at the Lovers and the Dragon and Phoenix. "And you might be responsible for some sort of unlikely union. Very interesting. Watch to see if two of your classmates who normally hate one another begin to become attracted. People who have this card generally cast its changing powers about them. The Magician, The Auror AND the High Priestess? This is a very powerful reading Potter. I would heed it well,' she said airily and then moved on towards Lavender and Pavarti who had begun to squeal. 

Harry and Ron sighed relief when Trelawney left. Harry sat for a moment to still his shaking hands. He had the same sort of odd feeling he'd had when Trelawney had made her real prediction. He slowly peeked under the next, and final card. Light. The power of good will triumph if it can. A creepy feeling in the pit of his stomach, he quickly and silently put the cards away.


	10. Visions of Thunder

****************  
  
Visions of Thunder  
  
****************  
  
"You ok Harry?" Ron asked as they made their way down towards Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. Today Hagrid had promised a special treat for them. The students had exchanged slightly apprehensive glances as Hagrid cheerily told them about their next lesson. After skrewts, fire- snits, the incident with the hippogriffs, Hydra, Flumper worms, poisonous acid-butterflies and a particularly nasty group of ankle biting dungeon hoppers, the students weren't sure if they were looking forward to this lesson or not. They'd learned over the years that what Hagrid thought was fun, was often very dangerous.  
  
"Yeah I think so," Harry said after a moment's thought. He decided to tell Ron about his conversation with the Headmaster. He looked around and saw no one who was close enough to listen. "Sirius saw Dumbledore," Harry told Ron, "He seemed to think that the Death-Eaters were up to something," Ron seemed to digest that for a moment.  
  
"Well, we know the Grim probably was just the big black dog then," He attempted levity. Harry laughed.  
  
"Yeah. I wonder what Trelawney would do if she discovered that when I see the Grim I really just see a big black dog."  
  
"And he's more likely to save your life then hurt you. I bet Trelawney would be real disappointed if she knew the truth,"  
  
"Yeah," Harry agreed, his mood lightened considerably. "But it's just really creepy," he referred to the Tarot readings they'd done in class.  
  
"Creepy how?"  
  
"Creepy like when she made that prediction about Wormtail," Harry shook his head, "But maybe the incense and worrying about Sirius is just getting to me,"  
  
"So, you sure you're ok?" Ron looked askance at his friend.  
  
"Yeah," Harry sighed and rubbed his scar absently. "I'll tell you if I'm not ok. Oh hey there's Hagrid. Wonder if that's the 'special treat',"  
  
"Looks like a bird," Ron observed.  
  
"That's a big bird," The bird Hagrid carried looked almost normal when it sat on his large wrist. Harry's mind finally worked out that that meant the bird was gigantic and he gulped.  
  
A handful of Ravenclaws are milling about and Hermione was there already, waving to them.  
  
"These 'ere are Thunder Birds." Hagrid said as class began. The bird on his gloved hand was pitch black except for electric blue falcon markings around its eyes, down its chest and at the tips of its tail feathers. Harry thought he saw clouds stream across the bird's large, entirely blue eye. The mirrored sky effect was broken only, and most eerily, by the bird's pitch black pupil. In shape it looked a little like an eagle. It was also huge. Enormous in fact. Harry had thought Fawkes huge, but these birds were easily twice his size. "Every one put on some of the specially reinforce gloves over in the pile there. They're talons are sharp. Made out of obsidian, ya know." Hagrid said and coaxed the large bird onto the perch.  
  
"I contacted a fellow over in the Americas. Traded him some English critters for awhile in exchange for this beauty. Got a bunch 'o Foreign type critters lined up all year in fact. Now this 'er is a Thunderbird. Native ta Nevada, Californa, New Mexico, Arizona an Texas in the States, and some parts of Mexico, mostly the northern bits and the Baja penninsula. Yeh ken tell their mood by the color o' their eyes. See? He's content right now. Blue cloudy eyes. Best get out of the way when they begin to get storms in their eyes," Hagrid pet the and the bird leaned into it, presenting the back of it's head to be scratched.  
  
"They're a right friendly sort if yeh treat 'em well. They're also fairly intelligent."  
  
"How intelligent?" A Ravenclaw asked. Several Ravenclaws took out quills and parchment to take notes.  
  
"They understand human speech well enough. The Shamans use bunches of them to help bring the rains to the wizarding southwest. One of 'em won't bring any rain, so I think we're safe," he winked, "The thing ya gotta remember is what they can do, yeh see? Now yeh might want to cover your ears." Hagrid told them.  
  
The students exchanged glances at one another then dutifully covered their ears. Hagrid muttered something to one of the birds, which no one could hear very well with their ear's covered. The bird opened its great wings and flapped. A sound like rolling of thunder was emitted. It shook Harry's bones and he felt the rumbling deep in his chest. It was like someone had turned the volume on a giant bass guitar way, way up. The bird then, at Hagrid's command, emitted what sounded like a crack of lightening. The class flinched as the noise rolled over them in a wave, followed by a cool breeze which smelled faintly of ozone. The bird closed it wings, and Hagrid gave it a dead mouse to eat.  
  
"And that's why they're called Thunder Birds," Hagrid grinned at the class.  
  
In Transfiguration, the clap of thunder startled the class. McGonagall looked out the window with a sour expression, then shut it and continued to teach. Ginny got that nasty feeling that something was going on just beyond her senses. The funny feeling hadn't happened that often so she hadn't bothered telling a teacher. Well, it hadn't happened too often when she couldn't immediately see George and Fred were up to something. She looked around and wondered what was pricking her attention just beyond her senses. Lisa was staring at the board in the front of the room. Ginny noticed her pupils had become quite small and that the girl had become quite still. Her gaze was unfocused and she looked like she was barely breathing.  
  
In Lisa's head, it was as if the clap of thunder had awoken someone else. She'd been dozing off in transfiguration and with that clap of thunder she was suddenly another person, in another place, in another life.  
  
She brushed back an errant lock of hair as the last bit of wind died down. The distant rumbles of the storm's retreat echoed through the trees. The ground was slightly squishy under her booted feet, but she felt confident in having a decent purchase on the earth. The storm had been another one of those quick summer affairs and not much water had soaked into the earth. The balmy air was quickly turning the woods into a sauna. She could see mist already rising in the soft moonlight.  
  
She was hunting alone this evening. The dark wizard she'd been trailing had suddenly begun acting oddly a few days before. She'd warily set out that evening, following him as he journeyed into the woods. She'd lost him in the quick rainfall as each took what cover they could, but it was only a matter of time before she found him again. She pulled her cloak tighter and proceeded forward. The night wore on and there was still no sign of her target.  
  
Suddenly the woods became silent. She froze with a small feeling for foreboding. This sort of silence only happened when there was a large predator around. Or several.  
  
She heard the snap of a branch behind her and realized with a sinking feeling that she'd been caught. She tried to apparate and realized she couldn't. They'd set up some sort of barrier. She steeled herself for a fight, resolving that if she really was going down, she wasn't going alone. She was better than any twenty of them. And that was good, because there were just about twenty of them.  
  
She grinned then, a glint in her eye, and the first moved. She leapt aside dodging a curse, and again and again.She sent back a few of her own and the howls of annoyance and pain followed her as she fled, trying to escape the apparation barrier. A group leapt in front of her and she realized, remotely, that this was some sort of trap. She took out one, then another and another. The muddy rainwater splashed around her legs, chilling them slightly. The fight moved down the hill towards the small creek. She slipped slightly in the mud and barely dodged a curse which left a smoldering crater in the soft stream bed. She quickly dispatched her most recent attacker, but she was getting tired. The mud was deep here and the water cold. She spun around and came face to face with the biggest snake she'd ever seen. The massive serpent reared and hissed, causing her to freeze in its hypnotic gaze for a second too long. A high voice began to laugh. She whirled to face it and was face to face with no less than twenty wands.  
  
"STUPIFY!"  
  
"Lisa?" Ginny whispered, poking her friend. Lisa seemed to shake herself out of a very strong daydream. Lisa couldn't remember much but the faint stench of ozone and rotting leaves. And that was very odd, because normally the school smelled faintly of incense and old parchment. Why was she thinking of rotting leaves? Why was Ginny poking her?  
  
"Hum?" Lisa asked.  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"…Fine, why?" Lisa asked. Why was Ginny looking at her so oddly?  
  
"You zoned out. Again." Lisa had confessed to not sleeping well recently and this wasn't the first time Ginny had caught Lisa dozing of.  
  
"Oh," Lisa said and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. No one else had seemed to, so she breathed a sigh of relief. She thought she really should speak to Madame Pomfrey or someone about her sleepiness and random naps. Ginny watched her for a moment. Something was not right with her friend and she resolved to find out what.  
  
  
  
"And the barrier between the wizarding and muggle worlds was finally erected in the 1000s. The sorceress who was the primary researcher and implementer, Azar din Wha…" Professor Binns continued to lecture, but Ron wasn't paying much attention. Neither, actually, was Hermione. She was attempting to read over Ron's shoulder. And that meant she had to lean over Harry, who was becoming slightly annoyed.  
  
Harry prodded her with his finger and she squeaked. Hermione blushed and sat back in her seat and tried to pay attention, but she kept glancing at the book Ron was reading. The bell finally rang and there was a general sigh of relief from the students. Ron, however, sat in his seat and continued to read. Harry could see he was almost at the end of the book.  
  
"C'mon Ron,"  
  
"What? Oh, sorry," he hurriedly packed and stood.  
  
"I'd love to see what's in that book," Hermione said.  
  
"And I said you should probably check with professor McGonagall. You already said you couldn't find it in the library. There must be a reason," Ron told her. He was nearly finished with the book. Hermione huffed.  
  
"Well, I have practice," Harry said and waved bye.  
  
"Bye Harry. Oh I have to meeting with McGonagall, I said I wanted to talk with her about some of this material," Ron said and sprinted off the other way. "See you at dinner!" he called out over his shoulder. Hermione frowned as she realized she was the only one in the hall. Well, the only Gryffindor. Malfoy and his lackeys were slouched against the wall. Draco and Hermione exchanged cold glances across the hallway.  
  
"Hermione!" Ginny Weasley was racing down the hall, her red hair flying out behind her.  
  
"Hi Ginny,"  
  
"Hermione, I need to talk to you," Ginny said. Spying Malfoy, the two exchanged unpleasant gestures and Ginny dragged Hermione down the hall, out of ear shot. "I'm worried," Ginny began.  
  
"So she's been acting oddly and she doesn't remember a thing?" Hermione asked after Ginny had explained her concerns. Ginny nodded.  
  
"Hm. Why don't you note down when she starts acting funny. And maybe you should try and think of any recent changes in her eating or study habits or something that might account for it. I'd help but I don't have classes with her," Hermione suggested. Ginny nodded again. It seemed reasonable. "I'll start right now," she resolved and marched down the hall in search of her friend. 


	11. Alternatives (An Interlude)

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Alternatives (An Interlude)

**************************

Choices. We make them daily. Should I get up or hit the snooze alarm again? Ask that pretty girl out? Talk to that boy or blow him off with a superior sniff? Regular or extra crispy? 

            A single choice can change history in the most dramatic of ways, but not all choices are so far reaching. We always have a choice. Even if we seems like we have none, for we can always choose how to accept what we have been given. The infinite web of decisions we make creates our reality and because of this, the world is full of what might have beens and what ifs. 

But if we have made infinitely many choices, are there perhaps infinitely many ways the world could be? And what if someone managed to breach the gap between realities…


	12. Choices Made

******************

Choices Made

******************

            A large snake sunned herself on the stone tile floor. A small wizard stepped around her with the utmost care. It was useless really. Snakes heard with their bodies, and Peter Pettigrew, known to many as 'Wormtail', only prayed Nagini was in a forgiving mood this afternoon. The snake's lidless gaze didn't change as he stepped by her great head and for that Pettigrew was supremely happy. 

            "What is it Wormtail?" The high, cruel voice of his master asked. Voldemort was reading a report of some sort. His bored and annoyed tone turned mocking as he used the nickname Pettigrew's former friends had used. Pettigrew winced. That era seemed like eons ago.  Beside Voldemort,  Death Eater cowered, quaking slightly as he held aloft the Lord's steaming goblet.  Pettigrew knew the human furniture. Michael Dekalat, once one of the most renowned Slytherin bullies, a frighteningly tall man who worked as an enforcer for the Ministry of magic once upon a time, reduced now to a cup holder.

            "Uhm," Pettigrew tried to regain his train of thought.

            "Spit it out!" 

            "The other side reports that everything is going according to plan, Master,"

            "Excellent, Wormtail. Inform the other side that I will want my Dragon back along with the list. She doesn't belong to _him anyway,"_

            "Yes, Master," 

            "Something else?" Voldemort's murderous red eyes glittered dangerously.

            "Er, yes. The Aurors seem to have taken this rather personally. We've lost several people and prospects of support," Wormtail fidgeted.

            "Then they will die when I have once more taken control,"

            "But-"

            "Wormtail,"

            Pettigrew knew that tone.

            "You will not be bothered by it further," Pettigrew said and bowed from the room. He bumped into Nagini who nipped at his heels as he made his hasty exit. 

Peter, called Wormtail, closed his eyes and shuddered as he walked down the hall. He had the deepest feelings of doubt and worry despite what his Master told him to think. He stopped by the room where the gate was kept. Unlocking the door and pushing it open he looked at the disassembled artifact. The red jewels were stacked neatly on a velvet strip of cloth awaiting placement. The gate itself hung in several pieces, magically suspended in the air a foot or so from touching and completing the arch. A thick, dusty book lay on a simple podium next to the stones. He shuddered. 

Some of the things he'd seen though that door…He thought he knew what the scariest things in existence were, but he'd been wrong. Very wrong. What he'd seen through that door was beyond anything he'd seen in his worst nightmares. 

First the Master had tried to ally himself with himself…a reality where He'd never fallen. The other Voldemort had been contemptuous of his failed self, and the Dark Lord's anger and even…embarrassment had been terrible indeed. But the world beyond that arch, where evil had never fallen was worse, oh, so much worse. His mind had recoiled and refused to believe some of what he'd seen. For the other Voldemort had taken quite a bit of delight in showing his less-than-prefect self all that he _SHOULD have accomplished. The leisurely visual tour was beyond description._

And so, angered, embarrassed and more resolved than ever, his Master had devised his second plan.

Pettigrew closed and relocked the gate room's door and continued down the hall. A small cluster of the new Death Eaters saw him and sprang from his path. Pettigrew wallowed briefly in a small sense of ego and power as their fearful, rolling eyes looked at his silvery hand, half hidden under his somewhat shabby cloak. Their fearful whispers echoed down the hall to him and he felt powerful. The feeling was brief as his thoughts turned back to their doubting path.

These people, most merely boys, had made the choice to follow the Dark Lord and receive what table scraps Voldemort saw fit to throw his loyal supporters.

Why had they made that choice? Why were they here and not out with the rest of their peers? Chance? Fate? In another place would they have become Aurors? Respected ministry officials? Would they meet themselves and be sickened? Pettigrew shoved thoughts aside as he continued down the hall. He would assemble the ones charged with opening the gate and then he would come face to face with himself.

Whatever multitude of choices in the world, he had made the same one at least twice. He wondered if his other self looked at him with the same sense of sorrow and shame of shared cowardice.


	13. The Worst Kind of Knowledge

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The Worst Kind of Knowledge 

*********************

"They found signs of a struggle, and traces of powerful magic," Minerva told him. "There were magical groundings in a circular pattern. A spell had been cast about half a day old," She was reading the parchment a stony faced Auror had left with her minutes earlier. The brilliant Phoenix perched on the armrest to her left looked at the letter then at his master across the room.

"It would take powerful magic to subdue her," Dumbledore's smile was wan. Minerva nodded as she refolded the letter. It was almost easy to keep the worry bottled up during the day. They'd each had practice before, before Voldemort had fallen. The students knew nothing, and only a select few teachers had any inkling that anything was wrong. 

Minerva rose, leaving the parchment on the small couch, and stood next to Albus. He was looking at the crystals once more. Hers, his and three others glowed a soft blue color, indicating that everything was normal. The forth was dimly lit and glowed red. No one knew what that meant and no book in any library they'd consulted had any hint. The only thing they were certain of, was that she was alive somewhere. If she'd died, the crystal would have become clear, and ceased glowing.

Minerva reverently touched the portraits of the people whose lives the crystals were linked to. A tall woman with raven hair in a multitude of braids ending in little gold and blue beads looked up and smiled at her before returning to her book. The young man in the next picture studied a complex, working replica of the solar system and made tiny notes on a piece of parchment. He waved, his short, auburn hair shone in the afternoon sun which bathed the balcony he was sitting on. The woman in the third picture had her white-blonde hair cut chin length and held it back with a pair of silver clips. Currently she was reclined on the well worn couch in the picture, and was using a grey and white husky as a pillow. The fourth picture contained a young brunette woman with mirthful blue eyes. She waved cheerily from her perch on the ruins of an ancient wall. 

Albus fingered the stone linked to the woman in the fourth picture.

"It's like she's hidden somehow. Or not in either the magical or muggle worlds," he mused. Albus sighed and placed a hand on Minerva's shoulder, "With all our knowledge and resources, we have only the barest idea of what's happened. We worry about the students knowing how to defend themselves against the dark arts, worry that they'll turn _to the dark arts. But I think the worst knowledge is that which we do not have,"_

The great bell sounded, announcing dinner. Minerva slipped her arm in his.

"We should go. You have to announce this years Halloween plans. And while I don't feel much like attending a party, the students will appreciate it,"

"You are quite right," he said patting her arm as they headed for the door of his office, "We cannot let ourselves be defeated. No doubt that is one of the reasons she was made a target rather than someone else. She is a powerful witch, Minerva. I have every confidence she will return to us," Inwardly, he was surprised that he actually believed what he'd said. Minerva nodded, but didn't look very convinced. Albus began running through a list of magical tool and artifacts which had circular grounding patterns and which might serve to hide someone. Severus Snape caught up with them as they were entering the Great hall.

"Headmaster, do you think it's safe to have a school event in Hogsmede?"

"Of course, Severus," Albus replied. The younger man scowled, apparently not sharing the headmaster's confidence.

"This school gets a little stuffy sometimes, it's good to get out and about. If you are worried about young Harry," Albus hid a smile as the muscles in Snape's cheek twitched at the mention of Potter's name, "he and the other students are going to be well looked after. After all, the faculty will be in attendance as well,"

Snape glowered and nodded once and went to sit at the head table. Finding that the only seat left was between Fleur and Nista Stonehoof, his scowl tightened. Fleur and Nista continued their bubbly conversation about something or other inane (hair care or something) and Snape did his best to ignore them. He then realized that THIS is what he'd have to complete with in his classes after the headmaster made his announcement. He groaned and glared at a few students who were looking at him strangely.


	14. Dances, Potions and Intelligent books

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The Familiar World – Dances, Potions and Intelligent Books

*****************

            The normal buzz of the Great Hall lowered as Dumbledore stood, presumably, to make an announcement.

            "Halloween is fast approaching. This year we have decided to include a small, dance as part of the normal party festivities,"

            The students erupted into intense conversations. At the head table, Snape was clearly rolling his eyes, but the other teachers seemed to think this was one of the more normal decisions the head master had come up with.

            "Dress robes are not required but this function is open to fourth-year students and above. First thru third year students may attend if they have in invitation. The dance will take place at a hall in Hogsmede. Have a good evening," Dumbledore sat and struck up a conversation with professor Flitwick.

            "Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, "I didn't know there was going be a dance and I already asked a girl to, you know, hang out at the party with me. Hey, Harry! You better ask Cho fast," Ron nudged his friend. Harry blushed furiously and Hermione stifled a giggle.

            "He's right though, Harry. You'd better ask Cho before someone else does," Hermione told Harry.

            "Quit it you guys," Harry was sure his cheeks matched Ron's hair by now. Hermione began laughing wildly all of a sudden and Harry was going to yell at her again when he felt a tapping on his shoulder. He turned around and saw what Hermione had been laughing about. It was Cho.

            "Hey. D'you want to go to the dance with me?" She asked politely. Harry stared at her. His brain began screaming at him to answer "YES!" but his voice seemed to have gotten caught in his throat.

            "Of _COURSE he'll go with you!" Ron grinned and smacked Harry on the back hard enough to cause his glasses to slide down his nose a little. Hermione was gasping for breath from laughing so hard at Harry's expense._

            "Er," Harry said stupidly.

            "I suppose I can take that as a yes?" Cho asked wryly.

            "Yeah!" Harry's voice suddenly began working again. His reply came out a little squeaky and he quickly covered his mouth.

            "Great!" Cho smiled. And then, just as quickly as she'd come, she was gone.

            "Bye…" Harry said a few moments later. Ron and Hermione laughed all the way back to Gryffindor tower.

*****************************

Severus Snape was not a happy man. Not in general and especially not now. His new student teacher, Fleur Delacour, was lecturing to the class about herbal infusions. They (well, the boys) were paying rapt attention; rapt attention to _her and not the lesson, certainly. Five boys had already asked her to the Halloween dance, and she'd laughed and told them, politely, no she wouldn't be going with a student, but thanks for asking. _

It was sickening. 

Fleur asked a question and instantly several hands shot up, mostly boys. Snape rolled his eyes. They might seem to know something now, but he doubted any of the students would remember anything five minutes after the class was over. 

"Sure they know the answers when a pretty girl asks them," he muttered under his breath. However he couldn't complain that several students who'd been disruptive in class had ceased to be so boisterous. Even _Longbottom was showing the slightest bit of improvement, having only melted one and a half cauldrons thus far. Snape's ego was taking a mild bruising more than anything else. What in the world had he done to deserve this? He decided Dumbledore must be getting back at him from being so hard on golden boy Potter and his friends._

"And 'ere we 'ave the 'ope weed. Zis is an important infusion in the 'ealing potions, espezally when dealing with snake bites…"

"It's a wonder they can understand anything she says," Severus thought to himself as he watched the class hang on her every heavily accented word.

"Pop quiz!" Fleur suddenly announced joyously. There were several disbelieving groans from students and a slow smile spread across Snape's face. Not one of the students seemed prepared, and they should have been. Parchment was passed through the room. Several boys looked stricken as they'd paid far much more attention to the teacher instead of what she was teaching

Now _this, was teaching! _

Fleur began asking difficult questions about herbal infusions, potions components and viscosity. Fleur turned around and winked at Snape, then asked an exceedingly tough question about differing boiling points. Suddenly Severus' day was looking up.

Ginny spared a glance across the workbench at Lisa. Green was thinking very hard about the question Mademoiselle Delacour (as she had instructed them to call her) had just asked. Ginnyhad quietly observed her newest friend all day. Lisa seemed to be ok so far. She's dozed off in History, but then so had most of the class. Binns had gone on at some length about Orcs streaming over some mountain range or something and killing lots of people. But Binn's class being what it was, even the boys were bored by the exceedingly dry account of blood and mayhem.

Ginny finished writing and turned her parchment over to indicate she was done. A few other students hesitantly turned their own papers over and sat back to watch the rest of their classmates finish. Ginny spotted Snape's barely hidden expression of pleasure. Ginny sighed. Fleur was the worst kind of teacher, really. She was knowledgeable, and didn't frighten everyone out of their skins, but she was a bitch when it came to actually testing what you were supposed to have learned. Ginny had yet to find someone able to resent her. Nothing was worse then being unable to resent a teacher for giving out hard homework and tests. It was really unfair. Lisa turned her parchment over and gave Ginny a feeble smile. Ginny rested her chin in her hand and awaited the end of the pop quiz.

******************************

"There!" Ron sat back and sighed with the contentment of one who has undertaken a Herculean task and survived. Hermione and Harry looked up from their homework. Hermione blinked a few times and looked from Ron to the book a few times.

"You're finished?" She questioned disbelief clearly evident by her tone.

"Yep," Ron said, obviously pleased with himself, "now I have to decide what I want to transfigure into. And professor McGonagall said that was the hard bit,"

"Can I look at the book?" Hermione asked, eyeing the tome.

"Uhm, I suppose," Ron said hesitantly, "maybe you should ask her permission first or something though,"

"Oh, I think she'll be ok with it," Hermione grinned as she drew the book towards her with one hand and moved her work aside with the other.

"But don't you have Arithremancy homework to be doing?" Harry looked pointedly at the abandoned quill, parchment, and book she'd shoved to the side.

"Oh, that's next week's homework," she told him matter-of-factly. Harry just shook his head.

"The pages are blank," Hermione said as she flipped through the back of the book.

"Yeah. You have to read the _entire thing, and no skipping ahead," Ron was just a __tad superior sounding Harry thought. He covered a laugh with a cough and tried to look innocent when Ron gave him a dirty look._

"But the front of the book is blank too," Hermione sounded disappointed a little confused, "Why can't I read this book?" She wondered aloud. Surprisingly the book answered.

_"Because Minerva hasn't said you can read me yet," the book wrote in neat script._

"Ahh! Not another possessed book!" Ron exclaimed, jumping back in his seat and nearly tipping the chair over. A few students in the common room stopped what they were doing and looked at Ron.

"Don't make such a commotion!" Hermione hissed. She frowned at Ron then at the book. Hermione had yet to find a book she couldn't read. Well, other than books in the restricted section of the library. Thus, a book telling her that she couldn't read it, quite simply didn't compute in her mind.

"Can't I even read the preface?" Hermione asked, somewhat lost.

_"Nope.__ Sorry about that. You have to clear everything with Minerva first, just like Ron did," The book wrote to her._

"Well, at least it's a polite book," Ron pointed out, trying to brighten Hermione up.

_"Thank you, Ron," the book wrote._

"Quite welcome!" Rom told it cheerily. Hermione glared at him.

"How does a book know who can read it anyway?" Hermione grumped.

_"Quite simple really.__ Minerva owns me. She says who can read me and I am quite sorry to say your name isn't on the list,"_

"So," Hermione said, her eyes began to gleam as she worked out the problem, "if I bought a copy of you, I could read you then?"

_"You aren't certified to teach Animagus transformations, so you can't buy me I'm afraid. Just ask Minerva. I'm sure she'd let you read me. She's quite easy to talk to, she's an excellent teacher and she has a lot of insight. Her tabby cat transformation is quite impressive, actually. It's very hard to tell that she's an Animagus and not a real cat. She even has the purring down cold."_

"I don't believe this!" Hermione hissed under her breath. Aloud she said: "There has to be a way to trick the book into letting me read it!"

_"No, I'm sorry there isn't. Well, not anymore. But I'm not allowed to talk about that. Good Luck Ron! See you if Minerva has you read any of my additional notes or re-read my chapters! Goodnight!"_

"Hey thanks!" Ron said cheerfully. Hermione glowered.

"What do you mean 'not anymore'! Well? Come on! Come _ON!" Hermione went so far as to shake the book. The pages flopped in the air and she held the open book spine up shook the offending text. She stopped and hurriedly put the book down when she saw the astonished looks Ron and Harry were giving her. She blushed and the boys immediately burst into gales of laugher._

"Well, I am going to talk with McGonagall," Ron said after her recovered from laughing at Hermione. Hermione sniffed and resumed her Arithremancy homework. Ron shoved his homework into something which resembled a stack as he stood.

"What, you're going now?" Harry asked him.

"Er, Yeah." Ron looked slightly sheepish, but no less serious, "I mean it's only 4:30. Dinner isn't for another half an hour, and I thought I could catch her in her office."

"Have you finished your homework?" Hermione asked sourly, sure he hadn't.

"Yeah actually. All I had today was transfiguration and I did that yesterday. I'd finished the chapter on sounds and I was reading the chapter on coloration and I thought I'd try to turn my stone into a song bird," 

"Let's see then," Harry said before Hermione could say anything.

"Right. Uhm," Ron rummaged around in his sack for the rock McGonagall had given him, "here we are. _Pennipotenti__ C__anto!" The rock turned into a little yellow canary. The bird looked around, trilled once and then took off._

"Oh, bugger," Ron said and took off after the bird.

"Watch your language!" Hermione snapped, but she still helped chase after the little bird. 

After a wild scramble which disturbed all the students in the common room, sent a great many essays into the air, and resulted in several shrieking third years, they gave up trying to catch the bird and Ron tried turning it back into a rock from a distance. The rock fell onto a table with a resounding thump and woke up the first year who'd been snoozing there.

"S'it dinner time yet?" he asked before his head fell back onto the table.

"Well, I'll see you at dinner then," Ron retrieved his rock and after stowing it in his sack, picked up his copy of Animagus, and headed out of the tower.

"I can leave my homework for a few minutes," Hermione hurried up to catch him. Ron shrugged and pushed aside the picture.

"Oh, that's going to hurt in the morning," Minerva thought to herself as she watched a Slytherin beater fly at full speed into one of the Slytherin chasers. The chaser had been dodging one bludger and the beater had just gotten the second bludger, but neither had seen his teammate. She watched as both boys collided and made a rough landing. Their teammates and Madame Hooch were quick in crowding around them to survey the damage.

Minerva mentally chucked and flicked the end of her tail. She wondered what Severus would say. Well, so she _knew what he'd say. But really, it wasn't as if she was __spying on the Slytherins. She was just enjoying both the amazing view from her office and the more accurate sight of her Animagus form. Besides, Katie Bell had sent Angelina to spy on the Slytherin team. Of course Minerva wasn't so sure Katie was getting terribly accurate information. The Slytherins had sent their keeper to do the same thing and Minerva had noticed the two spies getting awfully cozy as of late. Both captains would have a fit if they found out one of their own fancied one of the enemy. She hoped she'd be present to see it fall out. It'd be interesting to say the least, and good inter-house romance always did wonders for good relations within the school. Sometimes the houses were a tad too insular, in her opinion._

Her ears pricked as she heard footfalls in the hallway just before her doorway. Turning her head, she saw Ron Weasley carrying her copy of Animagus. He was being followed closely by Hermione Granger. 

From the way Ron had apparently been buried in that book, she suspected he was now done. Flitwick and Binns had commented on Ron's reading it at every available moment, and she'd remarked how pleased she was that he'd taken an interest in something academic. Minerva was just very glad that Ron had been smart enough not to try and read it during potions. Severus would definitely not be as accommodating or even pleased that Ron had taken real interest in something, as the other teachers seemed to be. Minerva shot a quick look at the fallen Slytherins on the practice field. They were being magically floated to the infirmary by Hooch and Pomfrey. Seeing things were under control there, Minerva stretched on the cushions of the window seat to get the kinks out from sitting so long, then turned into her normal form.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley," She greeted as she walked over to her desk.

"I finished!" Ron exclaimed, holding the book aloft like some sort of trophy. Minerva couldn't help but smile.

"I thought you might finish quickly," she told him. "Have you given any thought on your transformation?" She asked.

"Yeah. The Manticore is definitely out. I don't want something too big, but not too small and I think it'd be wicked cool to fly," Ron took the seat across from her, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hm, have you considered a hawk or owl?"

"Yeah. I know I don't want to be an owl. I mean what if someone tries to get me to carry mail?" he shook his head, "I know I don't want that. A hawk might be interesting. The book mentioned that you actually have to learn to fly a little, but I don't think that'd be too bad. I still don't like the idea of not having hands. Say, professor, There was a brief bit about people who can change part way. Now are they just not good or are they doing it purposefully?"

"There are people who just can't seem to get the hang of changing fully, but then others have gotten so good, they can change parts of themselves or find a comfortable change halfway. It's very difficult to be able to stop halfway, and I personally don't see the point of walking around with a tail or cat ears, so I don't know why some people even try. Amus Shannon had a halfway between his wolf and his normal self. It was terribly eerie. He looked like a werewolf."

"Wicked!"

            "He certainly thought so, until an angry mob of Muggles tried to hunt him down with silver bullets, that is."

            "Oh. That's not so good."

            "No. But I wouldn't worry so much about not having opposable thumbs, Mr. Weasley. I get by, and I know you know others who do as well," She arched an eyebrow. Ron nodded.

            "I was wondering when we could begin practice," he asked.

            "As soon as you decide on what you want to be, then we can begin practice. I've been working with Lisa Green every other after noon. You're welcome to join us,"

            "Fantastic! When is your next meeting?"

            "Tomorrow at four,"

            "Excellent. I'll be there,"

            "Don't rush into anything. You have plenty of time to decide and think about what you want to transform into," McGonagall advised. Ron nodded. "Any other questions?" she asked him. He didn't have any so McGonagall turned her attention to Hermione, who was fidgeting by the door.

            "I was wondering, could I read the Animagus book?" 

            "Hermione that book is not for light reading," McGonagall shook her head, "You should only read it if you wish to actually become an Animagus. I can give you plenty of books on the more abstract theories of Animagi transformations or books on the history of Animagi, but I cannot in good conscious give you that book so you can satisfy your curiosity," Hermione's face fell as McGonagall denied her request.

            "If you seriously wish to become an Animagus, then I can let you read it. But the information in that book is usually given out only to students who are serious about becoming Animagi. This is done so every one is kept safe."

            "I understand," Hermione said, a little disappointed. A slightly awkward moment passed.

            "So, uhm professor, what would you think about a Jhereg?" Ron asked. He was going over the list of (known) attempted and successful Animagus transformations of the last 300 years or so and checking the animals against a mental list of creatures he'd compiled through research.

            "Interesting creature. I have to admit I haven't ever seen a live one. They're native to the Mediterranean and middle east. They're winged lizards of some sort I believe?"

            "Yeah. Warm-blooded and telepathic. Carron eaters. I don't like that part too much, but what can you do? No one seems to have attempted one before. They're poisonous, but fairly even tempered. They look a little bit like miniature dragons but they don't have the super tough hide and they don't breathe fire," Ron said. McGonagall nodded to herself as if this information seemed to be correct with what little information she knew.

            "I suggest you do some research before our meeting tomorrow if you are serious about your animal form."

            "The more I think about it, the better it sounds, professor," Ron was grinning from ear to ear now. The tower bell rang, indicating that dinner was imminent.

            "Well, I suppose we should head down to the great hall for dinner then," McGonagall said as she rose. Ron nodded and he, Hermione and McGonagall left for dinner.

"Hey!" Harry said as he sat across from Ron at the dinner table, "Did you see McGonagall?"

"Yeah. I start practice tomorrow. I'm gonna try for the Jhereg," Ron informed his friend.

"Try for a what?" Ginny asked as she sat at the table. She'd only heard the last bit of conversation.

"Your brother is hell bent on becoming an Animagus. So he's going to try and become a flying, poisonous lizard that vaguely resembles a dragon," Hermione told her before Ron had a chance to say anything,

"Wicked," Lee Jordan said and gave Ron a smile and a wink. No doubt he was thinking of a hundred or more mischievous things a flying Animagus could help he and the twins do their last year at Hogwarts.

"Hey! And we can go fly!" Harry said. Ron nodded excitedly.

"Definitely! I won't need a broom!"

"I think you should become a weasel. You'd probably be flaming orange one. Your parents could sell you to a circus and finally make some money off little toy copies of you," A cold voice said. They turned and saw, who else, Draco Malfoy smirking at the Gryffindors. His normal bodyguards were absent, so, having made his comment, Malfoy made an elegant retreat back to the Slytherin table before the angered Gryffindors could beat the crud out of him.

"I really don't like that kid," Lee said, glaring at Malfoy's back.

"What is his problem anyway?" Ginny asked. She wasn't sure if she really cared all that much what the answer was, though. She'd gotten into a lot of trouble because of Lucious Malfoy's deep and personal hatred for her father and her family and the malfoys could honestly all fall of a tall cliff and the world would be far better off..

"I think he has a pole rammed up his…"

"Ron!" Hermione warned. Ron glowered and muttered.

"Think I'd get in trouble for oh, _accidentally biting him as a Jhereg?"_

************************************************************8

Whoo! Thanks soo much to the peeps who reviewed and gave me good comments! (Nia, dash thankies!) I am gonna attempt to redo chapter 6 at some point, but right now I want to work forward on the story. Bunches of thanks to Silver Arrow for the multiple reviews! Telling me what specific bits you like is really helpful. Seeing all the reviews gives me a warm fuzzy feeling ^_^. Go read Silver's terribly cute story "By George, I think she's got it!" yay! Fred/ Angelina, George/Alica fluffy-ness! *poke poke* go see!

Jhereg's are Animals from Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos Series. So far I haven't found any other work of fiction or myth that includes them so I guess they're his creation. Here's a link to a picture of the third book's cover (shows a pair o' the beasties)

http://www.math.ttu.edu/~kesinger/brust/teckla.jpg


	15. Hard learned lessons

***************

Lessons

***************

"I'm here!" Ron announced. McGongall looked up from her desk.

"Mr.Weasley," She greeted, "We're just waiting for Miss Green. Do you have any questions I can answer before we begin?" she shuffled some papers into a neat pile and then put them in one of the desk's drawers.

"Not really right now. I was reading up on the anatomy and structure of Jheregs last night and I re-read some of the chapters in Animagus I have to admit, it's the first time I've been on a first name basis with a book," he laughed, "some of the notes the book gives are really fantastic," 

Lisa sprinted into the room and skidded to a halt, bunching up the carpet as she stopped. She smiled guiltily.

"I fell asleep in Divination. It gets so boring after Trelawney makes her death sentences," Lisa explained as she began fixing the carpet with a toe. She froze, realizing her audience, and looked to see if McGonagall was going to chew her out for speaking ill of another member of the faculty. Lisa thought she saw a smile out of the corner of her eye, but McGonagall's face was carefully blank when Lisa turned around completely.

"Now that Ms. Green has joined us, let's go. We practice in one of the larger, empty classrooms closer to the hospital wing," she explained to Ron who gulped at the mention of "hospital". They set off for the other side of the castle.

"So, we still on for Halloween?" Lisa asked Ron.

"Er, I thought so. Why?" he was suddenly afraid she didn't want to go with him now that there was a dance involved and not just eating and wandering around the school, chatting with other students.

"Oh, just making sure," she told him cheerily, "So you Brits don't dress up or anything? We always had a Masquerade,"

"Bill said they used to have them, but then kids tried to transfigure each other instead of dressing up and it got too messy or something," he shrugged.

"It did," McGonagall told them. They'd both forgotten she was there. They soon reached the classroom and cleared away the desks so they'd have room to work.

"Lisa, continue the exercises we started last time, I am going to help Mr. Weasley begin,"

Animagus transfigurations were harder than they looked Ron soon found out. To the outside observer he wasn't doing anything, but soon he was sweating with effort.

"As you recite the incantations, concentrate on yourself," McGonagall instructed for the fiftieth time, "Feel how your body is shaped. Concentrate! Don't look at me or around the room!  Now feel the control you have over your own for- Don't look!"

"All I feel is slightly dizzy," Ron admitted. A chair swept him off his feet and his eyes flew open. McGonagall was just putting her wand back into the folds of her robe.

"You should stop for a bit then." She told him. Ron nodded and slouched in the chair, glad to be off his feet. Lisa had made decent progress today. Her blonde hair had become small blondish feathers. And while Ron hadn't even gotten his skin to look scaly, Lisa looked depressed. She too, slouched in a nearby chair and shook her head.

"I think I lost it. Maybe it was moving. Maybe it's me. Why can't I do this!?" 

"It is perplexing," McGonagall perched on the edge of a desk and looked at Lisa critically, "you _are doing something," she said, "I can feel the power build, so you must be expending a lot for that to happen. But it's like it's going nowhere. I'd almost say try a different form, but I really don't think that'd help,"_

"Why would you tell her to try a different form," Ron asked.

"It's very similar to what happened when I saw one of the Canadian Animagi attempting to get a second Animagus form. We could feel the build up of power and then it'd go nowhere. But when he turned into his normal bear form, we wouldn't notice anything at all," she shrugged.

"But I don't have another form!"

"And that's what's so odd," McGonagall said. Lisa sighed and slid forward in her seat until the back of her head was resting against the chair's back.

"Gimmie a moment and then I am going to see about the wings," She muttered. McGonagall nodded.

"Take you time, dear. Mr.Weasley?"

Ron stood, "I'm going to try again," he hopped out of his chair and concentrated on himself. He thought about his body becoming something else. It was just another object to transfigure. He recited the incantations he'd learned and focused his mind.

Suddenly he felt like Goyle _and Crabbe were sitting on him. Like someone was squeezing and pulling on his hands. Then suddenly the pressure was gone. He looked at his hands. They were covered in brilliant red scales. He turned them over and flexed his fingers. Slim black claws slid in an out as he contracted and relaxed muscles he knew he hadn't had a few moments ago. It was the weirdest feeling he'd ever experienced. McGonagall looked very pleased. She conjured a mirror._

"You've gotten very far. You eyes have changed as well," she held the mirror and yellow eyes stared out of Ron's head. The pressure was suddenly back and Ron watched his eyes change back to their normal shade. He looked down and saw his hands were once again normal.

"Wicked!"

"Mr. Weasley, you're a natural,"

"That's so cool! It took me nearly a year to get feathers…the first time. The rest came easily. I just hope you don't have to go through this," Lisa smiled. In the time it'd taken Ron to transform his hands, her feathers had turned brilliant blue and green.

"With more practice you should be able to transform yourself entirely and then we can work on getting it to stay as long as you want. And THEN you can start practicing flying. You don't want to suddenly become human again and fall out of the sky do you?" McGonagall smiled at him.

"Right," Ron agreed. Flying was fun, falling was not.

"But now I think we've had enough for today. Mr. Weasley, if you have a burning desire to practice, please seek me out and don't try it alone. I really don't want to have to take you to the hospital wing or give you transformation inhibitors. Otherwise we'll meet the day after tomorrow?"

"Sure," Lisa and Ron chorused. Lisa's feather hair formed back into her normal blond locks and they left for Gryffindor tower.

*******

Night fell swiftly on the castle and surrounding countryside. The crisp air promised the first hints of winter as it carelessly blew leaves around. Their students all in bed, a select few of the teachers were clustered in Dumbledore's office. Snape sat stiffly in a high backed chair, while McGonagall calmly sipped some tea. Dumbledore was reading the latest letter from Sirius.

"And they are getting antsy. I think they'll move soon if they haven't by the time this letter reaches you," Dumbledore read from the piece of scrap parchment. Sirius had sent little notes much like this at random intervals over the past month

"That's all?" Snape asked.

"That's a-" Dumbledore said. A low rumble shook the castle and a bellow and shriek ripped through the air. The teachers were immediately on their feet, out the door and down the stairs. In the entrance hall, Nodens was sprawled out on the floor silent except for his shallow breathing, a wound in his arm. His wand was a few feet from his outstretched hand. McGonagall immediately ran to the young giant-boy's side. Professor Stonehoof and Fleur sprinted down from the wing where the teacher's quarters were, professor Flitwick hot on their heels despite his diminutive stature to see what was the matter. Stonehoof quickly joined Snape in taking up defensive positions around the room. They began systematically searching the hall for the unknown attacker. 

A dark shape moved in the shadows and the doors opened with a loud bang. They all caught a flash of brilliant green and scarlet before it fled into the pitch black of night. Stonehoof cursed the new moon's darkness and galloped after it. Dumbledore sent Snape to get Madame Pomfrey, stopping him from chasing after the DADA professor and the boy's assailant. Snape nodded stiffly then ran from the room. Dumbledore approached the door to the side of the entrance hall. 

"Reveal!" he commanded. The door glowed and five deep claw marks glowed green on the middle of the door, directly across the word 'Registrar'. Many matching sets of marks along the doors edge indicated that claws had tried to pry the door from its hinges. The door's old handle was a twisted ruin on the floor. Deep cuts were evident in the metal. The attacker had tried to enter the room, but the door had retaliated with bursts of magic and the creature had retreated, leaving the door to reconstruct itself and replace its handle. The door hummed with alert energy and almost seemed pleased with itself for such a well done job.

 Dumbledore left professor Flitwick to check the protective charms on the door and crouched next to McGonagall who had been trying to stop the bleeding in the boy's arm. The Ennervate spell had only half worked, causing the boy to groan in pain and to softly babble deliriously, so she'd cast the sleeping spell on him. Nodens had a large bite mark on his forearm. The deep puncture wounds were turning black around the edges.

Poppy Pomfrey bustled in, Snape close behind. Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"I think the bite was poisonous, probably something serpentine unfortunately," he said. Pomfrey shot the slightest annoyed glance as some else (and not entirely qualified) made a diagnosis. Dumbledore continued to issue orders, " Severus I think we may need a strong antidote potion,"

"I'll prepare a general anti-venom," Snape nodded agreement and turned on his heel. He beckoned to Fleur, and headed toward the dungeon, already thinking of the ingredient he'd need.

Few times in her life had Nista-Orea Stonehoof ever chased anything which ran so quickly. It seemed to flow across the open ground, limbs barely touching. It turned so suddenly, this way and that, using it's tail as a very effective rudder, that she was beginning to have a hard time keeping up. As it reached the edge of the forest it opened what were unmistakably feathery wings and sailed into the canopy of the forest where the centauress could not get a clear shot. Nista galloped on into the forest, leaping over a fallen log. Movement in the upper canopy drew her attention. She raised her hand a shouted a light spell. A dazzling ball of light erupted just under the canopy. A huge green shape was fleeing the area, easily leaping from tree to tree. Nista followed quickly after. The creature slowed, perhaps it was getting tried. Nista readied a binding spell when a large branch cracked and fell to earth a few feet from where she stood. Nista leapt to the side, barely dodging a falling tree trunk. The creature was now nowhere to be seen, but a flapping sound was beginning to fade. Nista swore, the creature had distracted her with the tree and taken off. She sighed and inspected where the tree had been broken. 

The great log was really half a tree, the remainder still firmly rooted in the ground. The creature had to have been immensely powerful to break it in half. But only half the cut was jagged. The other half was clean, as if it had been the recipient of a severing charm. That was disturbing, for the list of malicious magic using creatures with fangs and wings was quite limited, and none of the options were pleasant. She checked for other signs of what the creature had been. Deep claw marks were all over the bark where the creature had sought to purchase. But no fur, no scales, no skin, no feathers, no hair, were anywhere to be seen. But wait a moment- the centauress reared on her hind legs and rested her forefeet against the trunk of the tree. Reaching up she plucked a soft tuft from the gnarled bark of the tree. In the darkness she couldn't tell the color, but she was fairly certain the feather would be green.

 She cantered further into the woods and gazed around, straining her senses for any hint of where it might be.

"Sister," a kind voice called in her native language out of the dark. She smiled and nodded to the other centaur.

"Brother," she greeted the other centaur in the old formality.

"You seek something," he asked, coming to stand beside her.

"Indeed," she said, "a dark shape. There are dark things out tonight. Be wary."

"I saw that which you speak of." The centaur gazed to the heavens, "Mars is bright."

"But look," she said pointing, "The north star also rises. With him comes the dog star,"

"Truly. You see it then sister."

"Indeed. And that is why I am where my star has guided me."

"Yes," The other centaur nodded, "Soon, very soon, our stars will either align or fall apart completely."

"Let us hope for happy alignment,"

"Good night Sister. May the darkness not plague you."

"The stars guide you,"

"Nista?" McGonagall greeted her when she returned. Stonehoof shook her head.

"I don't think I have ever seen anything that fast," she said, "and I completely lost it when it began to fly. How is the boy?"

"Poppy has him in the infirmary. Fleur and Severus are testing the poison to see what that creature was."

"What was it after?"

"What we have in here," Minerva indicated the door, "The magic quill that writes the names of children who will come to Hogwarts when they turn 11," Minerva explained. Nista nodded, "That would be a powerful tool,"

"Which is why we have it guarded so well. You said the creature had wings? We should go tell Severus, it might narrow the search down. You didn't happen to see what they looked like, did you?"

"Feathery. It was too dark to get a look at the color, but I was able to find this," Nista produced the small green feather. McGonagall picked it out of her colleague's hand and examined it. It was a bright emerald green and was about the size of the tip of her finger. The end was covered in fluffy down a shade of green lighter than the rest.

"A Griffin perhaps? No, Griffins do not have fangs and rarely are they green, though I've heard some like to use feather dye. A Chimera perhaps? Some of them have feathery wings and the snake tail would have been able to harm the boy," McGonagall suggested.

"Possibly. Two strikes from a Manticore's tail might have done that too,"

"Yes, but most manticores are red or black. I only hope it isn't some sort of new creature," McGonagall shuddered. There was a reason that the creation of new magical creatures had been banned. The results were terrible.

"We'll take this to the headmaster and he'll no doubt consult Hagrid,"

"Right," The two professors started down towards the dungeon where Severus was brewing an antidote for Nodens.

Outside in the dark night sky a feathery creature wheeled around, returning the way it had come. It had its orders.

**********

Aftermath

**********

News of the attack spread quickly the next morning. The first year Gryffindors were terribly upset that one of their classmates had been attacked. Filtch was upset that someone had been out of his tower on that evening, but Dumbledore had placated him, saying that perhaps the boy had seen something and had been attacked when he'd gone to investigate. Nodens was an exemplary student and was one of the few first years who didn't have black marks against them for breaking the school curfew rules. Filtch had grudgingly agreed, and had continue to put another coat of "Repell-all" wood finish on the Registrar's door (It had been a good door and therefore deserved a reward.)

Ginny listened with half an ear as McGonagall addressed her house. Doubtless Flitwick, Snape and Sprout were doing the same with their own houses. The victim had been a Gryffindor and thus Ginny's house was much more antsy. Suzannah was comforting Pavarti and Lavender who kept moaning about seeing dark tidings in divination and not doing anything about it beforehand. Lisa was falling asleep where she stood but she (and many others) wore frowns. The first year had been well liked by his fellow Gryffindors and already the older students were suspecting foul play. Slytherin (yes, the entire house) was probably involved too. Nodens had  been bitten after all and many Slytherins were snake freaks.

McGonagall glared at the Weasley twins who were muttering something about 'dance number gumdrops" and "Snake happy Slytherins". She ordered them not to jump to any silly conclusions and sent them off to breakfast with assurances that Nodens was well taken care of and that everything was under control. Classes would begin normally. The students groaned as they trudged off to class, but stopped moaning after another particularly cold scowl from McGonagall.

"Hey, wake up," Ginny nudged her friend awake.

" Oh, hey Ginny," Lisa said. They joined the river of students flowing towards the great hall.

"Didn't get much sleep?" Ginny asked.

"Nah.," she yawned, " scream must've woken me up. I had the weirdest dreams last night. Anyway, I'll eat and I'll be fine," she said as she trudged towards the hall. "So does this sort of thing happen a lot here?" Lisa asked as breakfast appeared on the table plates.

"What sort of thing?"

"Attacks in the middle of the night."

"Yeah, but usually Harry's on the receiving end," Ron interjected. He sat next to Lisa and smiled what he thought of as his best smile. 

"Yeah, that's true enough," Harry commented, his voice dry with gallows humor.

"We'd heard things were bad over here, but it was history class. It's so different actually being a part of it," Lisa, oblivious to Ron's attempts at being charming, mused. She took a helping of eggs and bacon and began picking at it.

"You don't think he was targeted because he's not human, do you? Ginny asked the table at large.

"Dunno. Could be," Ron shrugged.

"There were rumors that the giants were more inclined towards You-Know-Who's side before," Hermione, ever the font of knowledge, informed them.

"Yeah but those were just rumors. And if they were already firmly on that side, why's Dumbledore bothering trying to make 'em allies?" Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, I think a lot of that was rumor," Ginny said, "I used to think otherwise, but now that I can put faces on these people, I've changed my opinion," Ron nodded agreement. His own opinion had also changed drastically.

"That's probably why Dumbledore brought them to the school," Harry thought aloud. The others nodded agreement. "I mean with Madame Maxime and Hagrid and the three students? There have to be other people who're nice like them," the other students nodded again and the table fell into silence.

"All I know," Ron abandoned his efforts at charming and was pulling out a transfiguration book for a little breakfast reading, "Is that if we find out any Slytherins were involved, my brothers are going to see to it that they're dancing and singing for the rest of the term, and that's just the nicent thing they plan on doing,"

"Wonderful, a Slytherin chorus line. Do you think we could convince Fred and George to get them to sing silly love songs to one another?" Hermione asked.  Ron grinned.

"I bet we could!" He smiled but it was half hearted. The Gryffindors were worried about their housemate and laughter at the expense of Slytherin was a welcome escape. But still, it was an idea for a happier time.

Classes that day were subdued, as the shaken students dealt with that had happened in the night. Snape's class was taught by Fleur. Snape was busy mixing more antidote potion for Nodens and Fluer gave a running commentary for the class as Snape hurredly mixed and brewed. A muscle in Snape's cheek began to twitch and he glared at the student teacher a few times. Her accent was beginning to get on his nerves and the running commentary was distracting. He only hoped some of the students were getting some of the material down as he chopped and ground. There were a few altercations between Gryffindors and Slytherins, but nothing that resulted in anything more serious than a detention.

Professor Stonehoof announced another special visitor class for the next day and had taken the students out into the fields to practice their disarming spells on one another and the different ways of thawrting an attacker. The students' morale lifted a bit as they conjured ropes, glue, and other such hindering items around one another's feet. They had a short impromptu contest to see who could _Expelliarmus__ a wand the furthest distance. Dean, Ron and Harry had tied at a decent 25 feet, Lavender had the shortest distance at a paltry 5 feet. She cheered when she got to Divination. Trelawney wailed about seeing dark times and comforted Lavender and Pavarti (again and again) about not acting on what they'd predicted weeks ago._

"Ah, my dears," her wavering voice rose above the blazing fire and sobbing girls, "Often what we have seen is not fully clear until after the horrid events have passed,"

"Yeah, I bet," Ron snorted from behind is transfiguration book. Harry nodded and poked the soggy tea leaves in the bottom of his cup. He prodded them into the shape of a dog just for kicks and hard a hard time not laughing when Trelawney predicted that he would be the next victim of the creature that had attacked the Gryffindor first year.

Hermione caught George and Fred in the hallways and spoke to them about "love song" jokes and random dance numbers brought on by enchanted sweets. Her day had been progressively better and she'd decided that the twin glares the boys wore as they stalked around school had had to go. She explained the gist of her idea and had watched with a smile as the boys exchanged grins and then went to class talking and gesturing wildly about how they could accomplish setting a "Spontaneous dance number" charm on a common toffee. Hermione almost felt sorry for the Slytherins. Almost.

a/n: not too confusing eh? The next chapter will be a bit more entertaining I hope. We're gonna see more Sirius, find out what the heck that creature was, (guesses? Anyone?)  and the story is really going to get going. Gonna have some Ron/Hermione shippy-ness in later chapters despite what it looks like now and I have been dancing around the Idea of some d/g hints but I am not sure if those will work or not at this point. At this point I have only about half of what I have written posted (because the other half is woefully unpolished) I am now on Spring break! Woo! So look for more chapters and a humor story about everyone's favorite eccentric headmaster and his goat-charming brother. 


	16. A visit from Huan

**Author's Notes** and a small disclaimer. Again, JKR owns her stuff I'm not laying claim to it. I have an obsession other than Harry Potter. Yeah, I'm a Tolkien fan too *g*. So bits should be credited to J.R.R. Tolkien I added this bit because I wanted to show Dumbledore gathering together the magical peoples of the world and also because my mom had Issues with Elves. She didn't get Tall elves like in Norse Mythology ( I think) or in the world of LOTR (or other popular Fantasy). The only ones she'd ever seen were the short ones that helped Santa or house elves like Dobby. So here's a small bit trying to rectify that situation. For further notes see the end. ^_^ PS: the lines of asterisks ******* indicate a change in reality. I'm trying to show that they are closely paralleling one another. Ooooooo trippy! Alternate reality! (so if you wonder why some characters act the way they are acting, you've stepped into the twilight zone ^_^)

A world away…..

Ron was again buried in his transfiguration and (recently added) Jhereg anatomy books at breakfast the next day. Brand new additions this morning were copies of "Transfigruation weekly"

"McGonagall gave me a bunch of her back issues," Ron explained as he hauled the stack down to breakfast with him. Harry offered to take half the stack and Ron gave him half with a smile of thanks. When they reached the Gryffindor table, they set the piles down with twin 'thumps' and began filling their plates. Harry scanned the topics of the magazines' issues and noticed that a lot of the titles were about Animagi, magical creatures and transfiguration, and lizards and transfiguration; all in all, not very surprising. Harry pulled one issue with an article about canine Animagi from the stack and began flipping through it. He thought of Sirius and his dog transformation, then of his father and how brilliant he really must have been to figure all of this stuff out on his own. 

Harry could sort of understand what Ron went on about when he muttered about Animagi transfiguration while he made neat notes on a piece of parchment and read and re-read the books he'd got from professor McGonagall. Harry knew he would have needed a lot of instruction to become an Animagus and he was proud of his father's cleverness even if it had been a rather dangerous thing to do. Harry felt ill whenever Ron showed him pictures of transformations gone awry. The most recent had been one of a tiger man. The failed animagi's face had been painfully stretched into a muzzle and his hands were twisted paws and overlarge claws. The man in the picture was continually dosed with pain killers by attendant medi-wizards and grimaced often. The article Harry had picked was thankfully sparse on both overly technical terms and grotesque pictures of what NOT to do.

The two boys looked up from their bacon, eggs and reading material as a group of squealing Gryffindor girls rushed into the hall, grabbed some of their friends, and rushed out again in a much larger, much louder group.

"What's with them?" Ron asked. The same phenomenon was happening at all the house tables.

"Dunno," Harry shrugged

Hermione came in soon after, chatting with several other Gryffindor girls. Their voices were high pitched and fast.

"What's got you all in a fluster?" Ron asked after Hermione had separated herself from the rest of the chatting mass and had sat at her usual spot at the table.

"Oh," she breathed. Ron and Harry exchanged glances, "We just saw professor Stonehoof greet today's guest speaker," Hermione began idly running a hand through her bushy hair, trying to tame it.

"And you're all acting like a bunch of ninnies because…?" Ron asked. Hermione shot him a glare.

"He's an _Elf_," She said, as if that would explain it. The matter closed she helped herself to some of the warm porridge. 

"An…Elf," Harry asked and Hermione nodded.

"Last I checked, Dobby wasn't much of a prize by human standards," Ron said, puzzled but the girl's reaction. In fact he was greatly surprised that Hermione was acting this way at all. She was acting like a…like a _girl_.

"No, no! He's a Woodland Elf, not a House Elf. Really, we _did_ go over this at the beginning of the semester," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Ah, ha. So what, he's a tall Elf? Bigger ears, bigger nose than normal?" Ron asked. He could vaguely remember something about tall elves. Orcs came to mind for some odd reason. Hermione sighed and wondered how Ron managed to pass any of his classes.

"Woodland Elves don't look anything like their cousins the House Elves. You'd know that if you paid as much attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts as you do in Transfiguration," Hermione grumped. 

"Since we did Elves earlier, why are we getting visitors now?" Ron questioned. Hermione gave him a look and just shook her head. Ron scowled and buried himself in his books and magazines for the remainder of breakfast, completely missing the smirk on Harry's face.

When breakfast was over, Ron stood with his friends and then realized he'd carried an awful lot of books with him. Hermione performed a simple shrinking spell, muttering something which sounded like "helpless". Ron swept the books into his bag and the three ran to catch up with their classmates. 

Harry, Hermione and Ron arrived at the DADA classroom to find that the first two rows were nearly filled with the girls. Hermione dashed over and took the last seat in the first row, narrowly beating Lavender for it. The boys had no choice but to sit further back. 

"Harry Potter sir!" a small voice called. Harry looked down and saw Dobby's squished face beaming up at him from under his tea cozy hat. The House Elf was in his usual attire; an oddly patterned tie (which reached to his knees), baggy sack-cloth tunic, wildly mismatched socks and tea cozy hat.

"Hi Dobby," Harry greeted. Ron grunted what may have been a greeting, but was otherwise absorbed in the magazine he was reading.

"Dobby is helping out the professors today," Dobby squeaked, "Dobby has been asked to talk about House elves, sir"

"That's great," Harry said, though he wasn't sure Dobby was a good representation of what it meant to be a house-Elf. Dobby had been freed and now worked in the kitchens for a wage. It was unheard of and downright scandalous to the other house-elves, not to mention embarrassing. Dobby scampered to the front of the room as he heard the teacher approach. Harry quickly took the seat between Ron and Dean.

Professor Stonehoof strode in and, noting the seating arrangement, stifled a chuckle.

"I see you've all heard about one of today's guests," She said wryly. The girls all blushed and made furtive glances at the door. A chorus of soft 'ahhs' erupted from the first two rows as Stonehoof beckoned her guest in. 

The Elf was tall, probably 6'5", and he had long white-blonde hair. He wore a soft green tunic and trousers, the shade of which seemed to change as he moved. The edges of his clothing were worked in an ornate scrawling pattern in silver and gold thread. The tips of his gently pointed ears were clearly visible. His green eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled, making all the girls sigh. Harry had to admit he had never seen a prettier man, not even Lockhart, though what any woman saw in _Lockhart_ to begin with was still a mystery to him. 

"Hello, I am called Malfan," The woodland Elf greeted. The girls in the first two rows sighed again and echoed his greeting faintly, even Hermione. Harry spared a look at his other classmates. Neville and Dean were watching with polite interest, Harry didn't know how to classify the expression on Seamus' face, and Ron's look was half way between annoyance and confusion. Common to all the boys, save perhaps Dean, was bafflement at the strange power this man seemed to have other their female classmates. It was like when Lockhart had been teaching…only worse. 

The woodland Elf broke into a wide grin as he saw Dobby standing on the edge of a chair next to professor Stronehoof's desk. The two clasped hands and exchanged soft words of greeting.

"Our other guest today is Dobby the house-Elf," Stonehoof continued, " These two have graciously come to teach you more about some of the other magical species we share the world with," Stonehoof said cheerily. The girls nodded, but their eyes never left the Woodland Elf. Almost immediately, Seamus Finnigan's hand shot up.

"Mister Finnigan,"

"Do you live in the grey havens now? Was there really a Third Age? Is there really a Galadriel? Is she really that pretty? Can you tell us about Valinor? Were there two trees? Were they really that fantastic? How about the war of the jewels?" Finnigan began in a rush. It was then that Harry noted that Seamus was almost as transfixed as the girls. The woodland Elf laughed.

"You've read Tolkien, haven't you?" Malfan asked. Seamus nodded rapidly, eyes the size of dinner plates.

"Oh, yeah. Lots of Tolkien. It's dad's favorite. He read all the stories to me. Are they- are they true?" Seamus asked, hardly daring to hope they were.

"Parts, but I won't bore the entire class with the details. We can, if you like, discuss them in greater detail after class?"

"I'd like that sir," Seamus looked as if Christmas and his birthday had just come early. The girls shot jealous looks at Seamus.

"Why don't we have out two guests talk a little and then begin question and answer," Stonehoof suggested quickly, noting the almost murderous looks on Parvati and Lavender's faces.

**************************(our world)*****************************

"I am so tired,"

"You went to bed early,"

"yeah but I'm still tired," Lisa let her head drop to the desk top.

"You'll wake up when we get to Defense. I've heard the Guest speaker is particularly yummy,"

"Who're we seeing again?"

"woodland Elf,"

"Huh. Thought they kinda kept to themselves. Wonder what he's doing out here,"

"Who cares?"

"True,"

"I hate Potions," Ginny muttered as she slid into her seat. Fourth year transfiguration was about to begin. Suzannah waved hello and Lisa grunted. Transfiguration class was proving to be a bit of a sore spot for her. She was usually able to perform all the transformations McGonagall assigned, usually on the first try. McGonagall had asked if she'd had the material before and Lisa had replied that she hadn't. Recently though, her transfigurations had become wildly erratic. She'd produced a gauntlet when she'd been assigned to produce a glove, a small owl from a stone rather than a puffskein and a rather amazingly colored cloak when she'd been assigned to create a shapeless swath of fabric. The most spectacular mistake had been last week during a lesson on changing objects of a single substance into two. Lisa had produced a lovely dagger out of an oblong rock. The assignment was to turn it into a stuffed bear, so she'd gotten an odd look from her classmates and teacher.

"Everyone hates potions," Suzannah muttered, "Even the Slytherins. They just tolerate it better because Snape gives them a lot of points,"

"Afternoon, class," Professor McGonagall entered the room, emerald robes swishing, "I hope you are ready to demonstrate what we learned last week? Everyone get a rock and I will go through and check each of you,"

Lisa sighed, recalling the owl incident. 

"Just think of Defense against Dark arts," Suzannah poked her.

"Right," Lisa said as she dragged herself to her feet.

"Thank you for coming," Dumbledore smiled.

"No thanks are needed," Malfan closed the study door behind him. The last class of the day had finished and he was not free to engage in the task he'd truly been assigned. "We know of this great evil, though we do not travel to this world often anymore. We still hear things though friends. We will of course help your ally. Had but few others asked this of us, we would not have done so,"

"Few others know how to even reach you," Dumbledore pointed out.

The Elf laughed, his voice rich and musical "Too true!" he chuckled, "But all the same, we have isolated ourselves. Too much I think, though others would disagree," he sighed, "Perhaps one day we'll walk openly with Men again. Indeed our ultimate fates are twisted together. But for now we live apart," the Elf said somewhat sadly. He for one missed the interaction with Men. They were so delightfully curious and often pigheadedly noble and they seemed to live their comparatively short years to the fullest. Plus they threw damn good parties. 

"Our friend should be arriving shortly," Dumbledore's voice drew Malfan from his reverie. The Elf nodded and went to study Fawkes.

"A phoenix? I have never seen one before. I have heard tales of ones which used to inhabit our woods, but they left or hid themselves from even our eyes long ago," He fished out a bit of waybread for Fawkes who accepted it graciously, seeming to understand the grave honor, "They missed men I think," Malfan mused. The door opened and a large black dog trotted in just behind Professor McGonagall.

"Ah, thank you Minerva," Dumbledore said with a smile, "You," he said to the dog, "will be going with Mr. Malfan to be with his people for a little while. He has been fully briefed about you. Things seem to be getting a little tense around here. I am not entirely sure that recent events were not the result of their perception of your snooping. I need to shore up old alliances and you need a break," the old man smiled at the dog who hesitantly wagged his tail. 

"See if you can't get some rest before you go back out searching for information and back into hiding. They have agreed to acquire a new wand for you as well as some new clothes and travel gear. They will also take care of your winged friend. I believe you know the one I am speaking of," the dog deliberately nodded, "Good. Collect your friend and I shall see you when I see you," 

Malfan clasped hands with Dumbledore and exited the office, the shaggy dog trailing close behind.

"Well, that's good. He'll be fed well and be properly armed," Albus mused as the door closed, "Remus Lupin mentioned he's been having nightmares. Not that I blame him,"

"Dementors are such horrid creatures. I admit I had nightmares the first time I ever saw them. The minister had a group of them collect some of Grinwald's supporters after that raid in London,"

"I remember that. The first time I saw them they had just struck their deal with the ministry. I still think it is a bad idea and that we may come to regret it,"

"Changing the subject, I think Snuffles was a bit surprised that I collected him," Minerva said, her voice was tinged with the slightest bit of amusement.

"It didn't seem very wise nor profitable that you be kept in the dark, Minerva," Dumbledore said as he sat behind the great desk. She chuckled and took the seat across from him.

"It certainly explains why his transfiguration grades suddenly began improving. I see Ron Weasley doing the same thing,"

"How is his progress going?"

"Quite well in fact. I am very pleased. His grades overall seem to be improving as well. Apparently he is rather… 'Intense' is the word miss Granger used I think, when he does all his homework,"

"In a hurry to study his transfiguration books?" Albus chuckled with Minerva, "and how is our other Animagus student?" Minerva's face fell a little.

"She isn't doing so well. She's practically lost everything she was once capable of,"

"That is odd," Dumbledore mused.

"I know. Well, I have some things to see to," Minerva said rising. Dumbledore nodded and watched her go. He idly watched the silvery instruments whir on the edge of his desk and contemplated. Sirius would be well cared for and well hidden with the Elves. Few were allowed to even find their boarders, let alone cross them. Sirius was proving to be a valuable source of information, and one Dumbledore was not keen to miss for a few weeks, but he'd noted that Sirius seemed to be tired. Rest was therefore in order and it was also an excellent opportunity to make overtures to the less xenophobic elves. They would need all the allies they could get. He'd been afraid that the attack on the giant boy would lose his support among their kind. Instead they'd seen it as a direct attack against them and the few enclaves who'd pledged support had drawn in several more. Dumbledore only wished it would have happened under better circumstances.

The boy's condition had improved immensely in a few hours time and Poppy Pomfrey had prescribed a week of bedrest to be sure the poison had exited his system completely. The school had returned to a much more normal state after that announcement. Dumbledore was glad they managed to isolate the venom so quickly and set things right. They explained to the students that it had been a lost gripper-lizard and that the beast had been chased from the school grounds into the forbidden forest. The students had believed the story and hostilities between Gryffindor and Slytherin had settled back to their normal levels 

"Mr. Malfan!"

"Hello. I didn't forget you," the woodland Elf paused in the hallway, waiting for Seamus to catch up with him. The tall Elf was accompanied by one of the biggest dogs Seamus had ever seen, but he barely paid attention to the animal.

"So," Seamus panted, "So, what bits are true? Can I come visit?"

"Perhaps," the Elf smiled and resumes walking. "Some of my people are less tolerant of visitors from the land of Men than others. Generally we only freely let in Elf-friends and Peredhil. Wizards and Witches are generally more accepted than what you call muggles, so you might stand a good chance of being allowed in. I will speak with the council on your behalf."

"Wow! Thanks! How about my dad? He'd love to come and I'm sure he'd be polite,"

"We shall see," The blonde Elf smiled.

"Say…Peredhil? You mean there are _actually_ half elven?" Malfan nodded assent.

"Though few are actually half and half anymore since we do not associate with Men so much. We use Peredhil for all part Elven peoples now. Now, as for what is true and what is not? The great enemy was true, though not in the way described. The grey havens are an integral part of our traditional lore and history," 

Harry spotted Malfan and Seamus talking as they crossed the hall. Following behind them was a large, shaggy, black dog. The dog caught sign of him and bounded forwards. Sirius tackled him and gave him a slobbery kiss before backing off. Sirius sat on his haunches and wagged his tail.

"He likes you I think," Malfan observed and winked at Harry. Harry grinned back and scratched Sirius behind the ears. "I think he and I need to be getting back to my home though. Seamus Finnigan it has been a pleasure talking with you. Perhaps we will be able to speak at greater length sometime in the future?"

"That'd be good," Seamus nodded, "you wouldn't mind meeting my dad next visit would you? He's a muggle but he's pretty understanding, what with mom and me both being magical,"

"I wouldn't mind a bit," Malfan smiled. He quickly took off the ornately carved wooden broach on his tunic and gave it to Seamus, "A promise that we shall speak again. I have questions for you as well. This television invention sounds extraordinary and my kinsman has told me about something called an inter-network?"

"The internet? Oh hey, I can tell you lots! My dad's a computer networking consultant," 

"Computer? Hm, I have heard of these machines but I confess I don't know what they are for. They seem to be important to the muggles who use them. I have never heard a witch or wizard speak of them, though,"

Harry fought back a grin as he listened to the conversation. Who would have thought Mr. Weasley had a muggle-happy counterpart with the elves. Harry bit the inside of his cheek as an amusing scene played out in his head. Malfan and Mr. Weasley were doggedly questioning Uncle Dursley about all things Muggle.

"We shall have to speak again Seamus Finnigan. But now, I must depart. I am expected back at the border," Malfan nodded at Harry and tapped Sirius on the shoulder. Sirius wagged his tail to show Harry everything was ok and then followed Malfan out of the school.

"That was the biggest dog I've ever seen," Seamus said after the two had disappeared from sight, "He reminds me of the wolfhound chieftain Huan.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"The muggles you live with never let your read any Tolkien?" Seamus asked, ton indicating he thought this was a major sin of some sort.

"No," Harry said, "is it fantasy?"

"Uhm, well. You know, I don't know anymore. Mr. Malfan was telling me some of it was true. But, yeah it's Muggle fantasy genre. There's this Wizard in it who reminds me of the Headmaster,"

"Well if it had magic in it, they would have outlawed it outright," Harry told him.

"I'll lend you my copy of Lord of the Rings. It's a thumping good book. You'll like it,"

"Thanks, Seamus," Harry grinned. It would be nice to read something other than Text books for once.

Seamus was explaining hobbits to Harry when they heard raised voices down the hall.

"Oh, just give it up Weasel. We all know you did it," Draco and Ron were at it again.

"And WHY would I attack a member of my own house? I don't know how it works in Slytherin, but in Gryffindor, we don't do that,"

"I saw him talking to your new girlfriend, the batty Yank. Maybe you felt threatened, so you might have turned into the little lizard and bit him. Jhregs _are_ poisonous,"

Ron dove at Malfoy, but was caught by his Housemates, preventing a certain detention and Malfoy from betting a broken nose.

"Easy Ron. Ignore him. He's a git," Seamus told him.

"He just wants to see you get into trouble," Harry cautioned. Draco smirked and strode off. Ron growled and threw his friends off, staring daggers at Malfoy's back.

"C'mon Ron," Seamus offered, "I was just about to show Harry some of my Dad's books about Elves,"

"Sure," Ron grumbled, "Wait, Muggles have books about elves? Weird,"

"We are beyond prying eyes now," the woodland Elf said to his companion. The dog turned into his human shape once more and took the Hippogriff's reigns from the Elf. Sirius was glad the Hyppogriff had decided he liked the Elf. He'd been worried that convincing Buckbeak to follow would be a problem.

"Thanks," Sirius Black growled, his voice gravelly from disuse.

"Not a problem. Here's our ride," They'd come to the edge of a small river Sirus hadn't known existed. A grey boat was being directed towards the shore by a woodland Elf with long, dark hair. He greeted them as the boat's bottom scraped the rocky shore. After a few moments in which the three tried to convince Buckbeak that the boat was perfectly safe, they set off downstream. A watcher would have lost them in a sudden bit of mist which hid them from sight.

The land of the elves was separate from both the wizard and Muggle worlds, and was beautiful beyond anything Sirius had ever seen. Quiet music filtered through the sweet air as the sun set. 

"Someone is singing the sun down," Malfan said as he leaned on the carved stern of the boat. Large fireflies began to appear as the air grew warmer and the sun set. One glowing specimen alighted on the edge of the boat and Sirius saw that they weren't insects, but small glowing lizards. They seemed to glow with an internal blue-white fire. The creature "cheeped" at him and then took off on gossamer wings.

"The air is getting warmer," Sirius commented as he shrugged off his outer robes.

"Our world is much more tropical here than it is in your world," Malfan explained, "The boarders are a little colder. Listen," He tiled his head and smiled, "The singing grows louder, we are almost there," The little boat rounded a bend and Sirius, who was not normally moved by such things, had to gasp at the beauty of the Elfhome. Tall trees, easily as tall as Hogwart's tallest tower, arched over the river, their silvery bark shone in the waning sunlight. The branches grew into one another, creating huge bridges, platforms, walkways and further canopies. Elegantly carved houses seemed to grow up from the rocky ground into the trees above, coexisting flawlessly. A flock of the glowing lizards flew by, chirping. They alighted on a tree near the water's edge where Elf sat beside the river, singing to an audience of lizards and elves and strumming a small silver harp. 

"A hand?"

Sirius was stirred from his reverie as the boat approached a landing. A great stone swan's wings extended out into the river, holding many boats at dock . They attached their boat to a small anchor in the stone and then stepped onto the wings.

"Well come travellers," A tall Elf woman with long, wavy, brown hair greeted the men as they climbed up the stone swan's back onto the brilliant green grass. She wore a circlet of silver which reminded Black of intertwined vines, and was obviously someone of great import for the elves seemed deferential to her. Her grey and blue robes were queenly and would have cost a few hundred Galleons in a wizarding shop. Sirius ran a hand quickly through his tousled hair and over his wrinkled clothing, trying to look a bit more presentable to his host.

"Thank you Lady," Malfan bowed, "This is Sirius Black, your kinsman's friend," he told her in a quiet voice. The lady nodded.

"Well come. My heart is saddened by your trials. We hope your spirit will be lightened by your stay here," caught off guard by her rich alto and her piercing blue gaze, Sirius lost his voice for a moment before finally being able to answer.

"Th-Thank you," Sirius stammered, "My Lady," He added. It seemed appropriate. The corners of the woman's lips tiled in the hint of smile before she indicated with a graceful sweep of her hand that Sirius should follow her.

"If you will," 

"Certainly,"

*******************(The other world)*********************************

"Change!"

Ron immediately turned into his Animagus form at McGonagall's command. He only missed a few strides as he raced around the courtyard. A group of first years stood in a little cluster in the covered walkway. They "oohed' and 'ahhhed' each time he changed from one for to the other.

"That's enough of that Mr. Weasley," McGonagall called out. Ron trotted over to her and changed again. He dabbed at the sweat beading on his forehead as McGonagall scanned the courtyard, " I want you to change back and then leap from the ground to the top of that stone and back down again," she pointed, "Once I am sure you won't kill yourself, we'll try it from a higher height. Eventually you should be able to leap to the top of that roof from the ground," she pointed to the roof of the walkway the first years were standing under. Ron nodded and trotted off to practice jumping.

"Professor?" A Hufflepuff prefect held out a letter, "The headmaster told me to give this to you. He said that he'd just gotten the owl,"

"Thank you," she opened the letter and read;

"Dear Mum and Dad, 

I'll be coming home shortly. I have some interesting information about Athena. I've already contacted her partner. I don't know when the next portkey is running out of this place since I just got back into town, but I'll be home as soon as I am able.

Love,

Artemis,"

With a slightly trembling hand, McGonagall folded the letter from her daughter and tucked it away in a pocket. Composing herself, she attended to Ron Weasley, who was diligently practicing his jumping. He was doing remarkably well. It was difficult to get the feel of jumping with a tail at first, and Ron also had to deal with the added difficulty of wings. Ron moved to a higher target and managed that jump very well, only one long clawed toe missed the landing the first attempt. A trickle of dust and debris slid off the top of the slab to the ground. Ron promptly turned around and jumped back to earth. McGonagall noticed his wings automatically snapped out just a little, slowing and stabilizing his fall. Ron was indeed making excellent progress. Minerva hoped that Artemis was bringing good news. Perhaps Athena would be able to tutor Ron in the fine art of flying when they found her.

They walked along a smooth stone path under the canopy of silver and green in silence. Sirius mind wandered as he took in his surroundings, absently noting that the entire area was mostly in the Slytherin's house colors. He mentally slapped himself for thinking in terms like that.

"Tell me, what is going on in your world?" the woman asked, startling Sirius.

"Well," he said after a moment, "You-Know-Who seems to have returned," He figured that if this woman knew Dumbledore, then she'd know about Voldemort. "He kidnapped my Godson last year and killed one of his schoolmates. He seems to be rallying his old supporters, so we're working to counter him,"

The woman nodded and sighed.

"Such evil must be destroyed if it cannot be contained. He is hunted and that makes him desperate," she said almost to herself, "The desperate are the most dangerous,"

Sirius was still pondering this when he noted that his host had walked off towards a great stone dwelling. He hurried to catch up, disturbing a resting flock of the glowing lizards with his hast. As he caught up with her, he noted that she was speaking with an elderly human couple. The woman had her dark grey hair neatly tucked into a bun, her pointed witch's hat on the stone bench beside her. Her husband wore what Sirius thought looked like muggle clothing; a pair of khaki trousers and button-down shirt. The woman gasped in horror when she saw Sirius.

"That's Sirius Black!" she shouted and reached for her wand.

"Who, dear?" The old man asked.

"Sirius Black! One of You-Know-Who's supporters!" he'd found her wand now and had it pointed at Sirius' chest.

"Now that's not true!" Sirius growled in his own defense.

"Indeed, it is not true," The lady said, "his heart is as pure as yours is Imelda," her voice was firm, stopping the woman from hexing Sirius.

"Then. What happened?" the woman now looked at him with intense curiosity instead of fear or hate. The change was so sudden, from bitter hate to sincere speculation, Sirius was thrown off balance.

"I was framed," Sirius explained the bare bones truth. 

"You didn't kill those muggles then?"

"No. I was mistaken for their killer. They were killed by Peter Pettigrew,"

"Pettigrew is dead, it was in the Daily Prophet. Did you kill him?" the witch asked, tilting her head to the side. She reminded Sirius of some sort of little grey bird.

"No," Sirius growled, "Pettigrew faked his death so I would be blamed for what he had done,"

The witch frowned in thought.

"Well if you were permitted here, that must be the case," The man said, as if that solved the entire situation. The witch tilted her head to the other side then nodded. "I'm Henry Brown," the man got to his feet and put his hand out towards Sirius. Sirius shook his hand and then the witch's.

"Imelda Brown. I hope your name gets cleared, dear," The woman was now as friendly and motherly as Molly Weasley.

"Thank you, I hope so too,"

"Imelda and Henry are something of permanent fixtures here," The Elf woman told Sirius. "They are invaluable in helping to discern what is happening in your world and how it affects us,"

"They have such a nice library, Its wonderful to do research here so giving them a human perspective is a small price to pay," The witch said happily. Ravenclaw, Sirius thought. Definitely Ravenclaw.

"I like that they're perfectly willing to ignore my status as a "lowly Muggle," Henry joked. His wife rolled her eyes. This was obviously a well worn line. "Imelda and I met here. The natural entrance here is on land my family has owned since before William landed,"

It took Sirius a moment to understand that by "William", Henry meant as in "The Conquerer. Battle of 1066 and all that.

"If you will excuse me and our guest, I would like to get his settled before dinner,"

"Oh of course!"

"Certainly,"

"I didn't expect to meet other humans here," Sirius admitted as he walked through the grand stone arch into the main building.

"Few other than a special number come here. Imelda and Henry both have the distinction of being an Elf-friend,"

"Is Dumbledore an Elf-friend as well, then?" Sirius asked, unsure of exactly what the title meant. His host laughed, her voice was light and musical. Her blue eyes twinkled as she pushed the door to a spacious room open.

"Albus is one of my kinsmen," She explained, "This is your room. I will have someone send in some clothing before dinner. For now I bet you'd like a nice relaxing bath before dinner. I have been told your recent life has been most rough. I am Galadlalaith, one of the three keepers of this home, and I bid you farewell until dinner,"

Sirius stood dumbstruck in the arched doorway as he watched his host glide away down the corridor. One of her kinsmen? Well that certainly explained several things about Hogwarts' headmaster. Of course it also uncovered several more mysteries, but Sirius supposed it didn't matter. 

The room was elegantly appointed and had a balcony with a breath-taking view of the little river valley. The huge bed looked very inviting, especially to someone who'd spent more than a decade in a place where one was lucky if they had a pile of rotting straw on the ground. Sirius flopped onto the bed and started up at the ceiling which was a breathtaking combination of carved stone and stained glass made to resemble the canopy outside. Sirius hadn't even realized he'd drifted off when a soft knock at the door awoke him. A pile of neat clothing was draped over the end of the bed, left by some silent servant while he'd slept.

"So you are awake," Malfan said from the doorway, "Dinner is in an hour," he said and slipped away down the hall. 

"Thanks," Sirius said to the air. He pushed himself off the bed and went in search of the shower.

*************************(Our world)********************************

A world away, at Hogwarts, the fourth year girls' dormitory was usually quiet in the afternoon as most of its occupants were in the common room, gossiping or doing their homework, or both. This afternoon was no exception. The only sound disturbing the silence was the soft sound of a quill scratching the surface of parchment. The door creaked as Ginny Weasley looked around the doorframe into the room, looking for her friend Lisa. Weeks of observation had lead her to a hypothesis she wanted to test.

"Lisa,"

"Hi Ginny," the blonde said from the middle of her bed. She paused from writing to smile up at her friend. The essay she was working on was draped over the end of the bed, nearly complete.

"I'm almost done with Snape's essay," She added the last few lines with a little extra flourish and then sat up with a sigh. She returned her quill to the ink pot on her bedside table and then hopped off the bed to stretch. "did you finish your essay?"

"Yeah. I finished last night," Ginny said. She took a seat on the end of her bed and set her feet on the well-worn trunk.

"I can't believe Madamoiselle Delacour added another 5 inches, "Lisa grumbled as she rolled her parchment up and tied it closed with a bit of string.

"I don't think anyone liked that," Ginny agreed. He other girl stuffed her parchment into her knapsack and then plopped back on her bed. A little bell went off and leapt up again and began rummaging in her trunk.

"I almost forgot I have to take these," she pulled out a brown bottle of pills.

"Lisa, could I ask you a personal question?"

"Well, I suppose so," Lisa frowned, and sat up

"What do you take that medication for?"

"I….I am not sure. Mom and Dad said to take it,"

"See," Ginny told her, "that seems a bit odd, doesn't it?"

"Well, I suppose so," Lisa felt like a broken record.

"Do you know what the medication is?" Ginny asked. Lisa nodded and opened her mouth to answer, but then grew puzzled.

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" she asked politely and Ginny frowned. After asking four more times with the same result, Ginny was now _very_ worried. Ginny had performed this same ritual with Lisa yesterday and a similar one with her at lunch. Her observations had lead to a hunch and it seemed like she was correct. Time to act.

"Lisa could I test one of those pills to see what it is made of?" Ginny asked.

"Well, ok," Lisa tipped one pill out into Ginny's hand.

"Do you know what the medication is?" Ginny asked. Lisa nodded then her expression became oddly blank.

"Uhm, no?" she said and frowned. Ginny's expression became grim.

"I get the feeling that I am forgetting something," Lisa said, looking at the small green pill warily. "I hate these, but I know I am supposed to take them. Mom and Dad sent me an owl with another bottle last week, but I always feel so fuzzy when I take them."

Ginny nodded to herself. Her friend _had_ been getting a little tired, forgetful and generally fuzzy since she'd gotten the pills. The nagging sense of not-right-ness was increasing. She wouldn't even had noticed except for the Owl at breakfast the week before.

"Well let's see if we can't fix that. Stay here, I'll be right back" Ginny told her and hurried over to the fifth year girls' dorm.

"Hermione! I have one. I kept asking what was in it and she kept forgetting and it was frightening."

"Kept forgetting?" Hermione asked, setting the book she'd been reading down.

"It was like she'd never even heard me ask the question sometimes. It was scary. But I think I'm right. I think these are what're making her sick,"

"Well, lets see what's in this then," Hermione said. She picked up a book from under her pillow entitled Advanced potions for the precocious wizard.  They collected a worried looking Lisa and set off for the potions classroom.

"It's a very good thing that fifth years learn how to unmake potions," Hermione said and patted her book lovingly. The three set off for the Potions classrooms.

**Author's notes Cont'd. **

I wanted to give Sirius a bit of attention and I figured he was probably the character most in need of a relaxing vacation in a place where he didn't have to hide or worry. I also wanted to show a possible scene where someone who'd grown up with all of this as fantasy was suddenly confronted with its reality. Hermione is far too practical and throws herself into everything. she would have just accepted all of it as fact and then done extensive research on everything Muggles got wrong (in fact I think that's what she did). Seamus is half and half, so he's probably known about things like dragons and griffins existing for awhile. But he might also live in a mostly Muggle area and he might not be as completely familiar with all aspects of wizarding society, as say, Ron or Draco would be. I've also tried to include that while he'd probably be familiar with House-elves like Dobby, he probably wouldn't be as familiar with the other type since (I decided) that they are reclusive and few Witches or Wizards ever see them. 

I also decided that in my own warped mind ^_^ that Dumbledore is a quarter Elf. Wizards and Witches live to be really old, but I picture him as being amazingly spry for his great age and quite likely to continue on for quite a bit more before he shuffles loose his mortal coil. I think it'd also explain why he's A) tall and lanky, B) so powerful C) Old but youthful and D) why Fawkes sticks around him. We've seen part Veela so far, so I don't think this is too much of a stretch. Fleur was a quarter Veela and still retained many characteristics of her "grandmozzer"

Ginny has been suspecting that something-is-up with her friend. She's been playing Sherlock and had decided that she think she knows the reason. Answers next chapter! Stay Tuned!

To my reviewers: Thank you! Thank you!


	17. Enter the dragon

"Fascinating," Hermione said as she examined the fine green powder the pill made when it was crushed.

"What is it?" Ginny asked as she looked wildly around the room. Snape seemed to loom from every shadowy corner, and she was very glad they were doing this during the day rather than a clandestine journey at night.

"Ron told you about …" Hermione casually looked around the room to see if anyone was close enough to hear. A group of first year Ravenclaws were working on their homework in one corner and some seventh year Hufflepuffs were brewing something rank in another corner. "Ron told you about poly juice potion, didn't he?" Hermione said in a low whisper. Ginny nodded once and her eyes widened. Lisa frowned. She hadn't heard of that potion before.

"How could I forget from last year! But…This is…? But it's not a liquid!"

"Shh!" Hermione cautioned Ginny from yelling too loudly, "It's also part belladonna and Indian sleep-weed. A bunch of other plants I haven't heard of. Neville might know what they do," Hermione said as she examined the reaction the powder made when mixed with dragon tears. "Someone made the potion and crystallized it then mixed the crystals with a bit of honey and sugar water and rolled it into a pill. Lisa, you aren't doing well because of the herbs in it. They're probably what have been making you feel a little ill,"

"Sleep-weed is also transfiguration inhibitor, isn't it?" Lisa asked. She looked more than a little ill right _now, "Isn't that one of the ingredients they used to try and cure Lycanthrope?"_

 "That's true. It just makes a werewolf's transformation more painful so they stopped. They also use it to prevent Animagi from transforming," Lisa looked positively stricken. All the blood rushed out of her face and she had to sit heavily on a bench to keep from sinking to the floor.

"But what concerns me more," Hermione told her, "is that the Snaproot is a memory blocker," Hermione flipped through the potions text to find the entry for Snaproot. She let the other girls read the entry while she added a bit of Flubberworm skin. (Apparently the creatures did have a use.)

"You've been forgetting," Ginny said in a hushed whisper. Hermione nodded agreement. She had noticed the recent phenomenon too. Hermione's eyes narrowed as she watched purple smoke rise from the pile of crystals when she added a little rose extract. The smoke should have been a green color. Whoever had made this had seemed to get the dosage incorrect and thus Lisa was being noticeably affected; unlike earlier in the year as Hermione was now beginning to suspect.

"Snaproot also prevents people from regaining memories when they've been Obliviated," Lisa read, gulping. Surely her parents wouldn't have sent this! The package had to have been intercepted somehow!

"You don't think something awful happened to you and you're better off not knowing, do you?" Ginny asked.

"I'm not sure I want to know," Lisa said somewhat shakily, "but what's Polyjuice?"

"It's a potion that makes you look like another person. But combined with these herbs, I don't know what it'd do. I'll do more research and find out," Hermione told her.

"But…why?" Lisa asked. She looked at the jar of pills as if it were a snake ready to strike her.

"I don't know. I was hoping you would. I think you should stop taking those pills. It'll be ok," she said.

"What will that do to me?" Lisa asked fearfully. They changed your shape? Memory blockers? Obliviate? That curse had always seemed as bad as the unforgivables to her. Lisa sniffed back a tear as Ginny gave her a quick hug.

"Hopefully you'll feel less fuzzy and forgetful and you'll be able to transfigure yourself. Beyond that…I don't know," Hermione patted her shoulder, "I also think we should go to Madame Pomfrey right away. She'll know what this is all about,"

Lisa nodded. The three quickly cleaned up their work and left the dungeons. Lisa felt confused as Hermione and Ginny walked on either side of her. Hermione's face was grim and determined, while Ginny smiled at her whenever she met her friend's gaze. Lisa felt sick. She was beginning to feel queasy and she wasn't sure if it was nerves or having missed taken that pill. Having never, scratch that, having _no memory, of ever changing shape because of a potion, she wasn't sure what it was supposed to feel like. And she wasn't sure if her friends were walking like this because they were worried she'd die on the way or something. Hermione had been guarded since she'd determined the composition of the pills. Lisa was therefore unsure how to read Hermione's clenched jaw and- oh, geez she had her __wand out! Lisa pressed her fingers to her temples. She was beginning to develop a buzzing headache._

"You've been acting so weird," Ginny told her in a hushed voice, "I didn't know if your parents got your prescription wrong or if you package was intercepted but I was worried, so I told Hermione,"

"That's ok," Lisa said, hoping her genuine tone would get Hermione to ease up.

"Ginny,"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know who I am anymore…"

Ginny gave her friend a quick reassuring hug, "Well, you're still my friend. And I doubt anyone else will suddenly not be your friend because of whatever this is, so relax. We'll know some answers as soon as that stuff wears off."

"I think it's gonna wear off real soon," Lisa said. Hermione and Ginny exchanged a look and hurried their pace.

 "Apparently he hasn't woken yet, so they can't ask him what happened," Lee Jordan said. He and the twins had just come back from visiting the first year in the hospital wing.

"The fang marks seemed to have healed a lot, so they think he'll wake up any time now," George said, "He's reacted slowly to the poison and the anti-poison because he's a giant and their biology is different or something. Anyway, it was a reptile of some sort,"

"And it was going after the Quill," Fred added.

 "What quill?" Harry looked confused. He wondered where Hermione had gotten to. It was probably something she would have read in Hogwarts: A History,"

"_The Quill_. The one Ravenclaw's founder enchanted. It writes down the name of every kid who is supposed to come here when they're born and McGonagall goes in once a year and sends owls off to the kids who'll turn 11. Mum told me about it. She had to help send owls off one year when she was at school," Ron told him. Harry nodded.

"You didn't hear anything, did you?" George asked Harry, "I mean fangs…it might have been a big snake,"

"I didn't hear anything that night. Well not from any snakes that I know of. The only thing unusual that I heard was that loud bang,"

"That was the repulsion spell on the door. Some VERY strong magic must have been directed at it for it to repel so loudly," Lee chimed in.

"I was wondering what those loud noises were. Woke me out of a sound sleep," Ron stifled a yawn. He'd fallen asleep re-reading the book that McGonagall had given him and going over notes from The Amazing Jhereg,  and the loud noise had sent the stack tumbling to the floor.

"I heard Snape and Hagrid talking this morning between classes," Neville piped up. The group turned and looked at him expectantly, "I was doing some work for Madame Sprout and they walked by into the castle. Hagrid said the bite wasn't from a snake. He thought it looked like it was from a big lizard," The entire group turned and looked at Ron,

"Hey! I can barely change! And I wouldn't go around biting people! Unless it was Malfoy, maybe, but I didn't do anything! Malfoy already accused me of it! Harry, you were there!"

"No one said you did," Harry tried to calm his best friend, "but do you think it might have been a trained Jhereg?" Harry privately worried someone might have been trying to set Ron up the way Ginny had been during her first year.

"Hmm," Ron thought. He thumbed through a few pages of the text and brought up a chart of comparative sizes of Jheregs. "The greater Jhereg is only about 4 feet at the shoulder. The miniature Jhereg is only about a foot long. But the poison from either of these is actually about the same, and it might be able to take out a giant. I know it can take out a human easily enough. There was apparently an extinct species which was 5 feet at the shoulder and had four wings," Ron read, "But they were apparently mild tempered and died out when more aggressive species of creatures began to crowd their area due to the creation of reservations. But one might have survived. So, how far apart were the fang marks, or were they covered?"

"They were uncovered because I guess the salve Pomfrey is using needs air to work best. They probably were about, oh, the width of my hand with the fingers spread," George said. Fred and Lee nodded affirmation.

"Well, that'd be too big for a Jhereg," Ron frowned, "even one of these extinct ones. We're talking about a much bigger animal unless someone has bread a macro Jhereg. But breeding magical creatures like that is illegal,"

"Not that that would stop some people," Neville commented. The other boys nodded.

"So what other giant poisonous lizards are there?" Lee asked

"It might be in our text books," Harry suggested. The boys raced up to their rooms in search of their texts, determined to figure the mystery out.

"How about the Peruvian Vipertooth?" Neville pointed at a picture of a copper and black dragon in the book Charlie had Sent Ron for his last brithday. The creature in the picture opened its mouth showing long fangs. Then it attacked a goat. Messily.

"Maybe. But don't they life high in the mountains? In Peru?" George scratched his head.

"Well, someone could have captured it and brought it here," Fred suggested. George shrugged.

"Don't they eat humans?" Lee asked. All the boys exchanged alarmed looks.

"What is it girls?" Madame Pomfrey said as she bustled about. Hermione directed Lisa to sit on one a bed. The girl's skin was an unhealthy shade of yellow and she had dark circles under her eyes. The walk to the hospital wing seemed to have brought about a most unhealthy transformation in Lisa. She'd looked healthy two before. Now she walked in a sort of daze, as if she were listening to voices no one else could hear. Most frightening was that fact that she seemed to be nodding in agreement every so often. Lisa slowly sank to the bed and immediately lay back 

"Oh, My!" Madame Pomfrey said when she saw Lisa. She moved Ginny and Hermione away. A quick spell drew the girl's shoes and outer cloak off. Madame Pomfrey tucked the sheet around her new patient and rounded on Hermione and Ginny. "What happened?"

"She's been taking these. They've been making her sick," Ginny said and handed Pomfrey the bottle," she been forgetful and constantly sleepy,"

"Where did she get these?"

"Her parents sent them,"

"They didn't notify me,"

Ginny and Hermione exchanged a glance.

"They told her that they had cleared it with you," Hermione said, hesitantly. Madame Pomfrey's  eyes narrowed.

 "We got worried so we tried to find out what they were made of, and some of the herbs were meant to stop her transfiguring and to keep her feeling ill," Ginny said," we just found out so we brought her here. She got sicker and sicker as we walked here," Madame Pomfrey looked at the bottle then back at the girls.

"I am going to have Professor Snape take a look at these,"

"We ran a test, " Hermione handed Pomfrey a list of what she'd found,

"I'll look at it. Now, you girls get back to your tower. You friend will be ok," Hermione and Ginny nodded and fled from the infirmary. Pomfrey clicked her tongue and tucked the parchment into her pocket as Nodens groaned. He'd be up soon. Pomfrey moved a barrier between her two patients with a levitation spell.

"How is he, Poppy?" Minerva McGonagall asked as she entered the room a few moments later. Pomfrey nearly leapt out of her skin with fright.

"Minerva!" she said, "You startled me. I swear you walk as silently as a cat even in human form,"

McGonagall rolled her eyes then peered down at Nodens. "I just saw two of my other students and they informed me that I have two Gryffindors here now. Hermione and Ginny were really quite flustered. Something about illicit medication?"

"They brought Miss Green in just now," Poppy confirmed. Minerva sighed and shook her head.

"It's very serious Minerva. Apparently her parents have been sending her these," Pomfrey held up the brown bottle, "I hope it's a case of overmedication. I sincerely hope no one has been purposefully trying to poison the girl. Speaking of poison, Fleur and Severus isolated what the poison was with a hand from Hagrid. I am just thankful it wasn't very life threatening,"

"What do they think it was?"

"Some form of dragon venom. Very rare in general and they're having difficulty placing which species. It's almost Peruvian Vipertooth, but not quite. I gave him the general anti-venom and he's responding well."

"Good,"

"She's being poisoned?" Ron asked, "I'm beginning to think this is a lot bigger than we imagined," the girls had returned from taking Lisa to the hospital wing and Ginnt and Hermione had explained their discovery. 

"You don't think she was connected to the attack on Nodens, do you?" George asked. Ginny shook her head no.

"She was in bed. She went to bed early too," 

 "You don't think….you know…that He's involved, do you?" Ron asked Harry who rubbed the scar on his forehead absently.

"Dumbledore told me that he'd been…hearing things. Nothing terribly Anti-giant though. But I do think that Nodens getting attacked was a byproduct of the attack on the registrar's office," Harry mused.

Ginny gasped, "The Quill? Someone tried to take it?"

"Yeah," Harry said, "we just found out that it happened the evening Nodens was attacked,"

"Oh! If…if…You-know-who got that, he could find all the magical kids and take them. That'd be awful!" Ginny said. Hermione's eyes widened as she realized what Voldemort might do with a quill that could write the names and even locations of magical children….Especially magical children who were muggle born.

"They probably made that connection already," Neville reminded everyone, "That's why the protection spells are there in the first place, right? To prevent something awful like that from happening,"

"True," Ron agreed.

Back in the infirmary, the headmaster, potions master and student potions master had returned victorious. The three had discovered the origin of the venom keeping the boy unconscious and feverish and had devised a quick anti-venom.

"Quetzalcoatl," Dumbledore said as Pomfrey administered another dose of anti-venom to Nodens, "it's very unusual. I wasn't sure they even existed anymore. This proves at least one still does. I shall have to speak to Newt. Looks like he's responding well," The boy stirred in his sleep, but he already looked less blanched.

 "I think he's waking," Pomfrey said. Sure enough the boy soon blinked his eyes and rubbed his face. He looked at the bandage on that arm curiously, then at the circle of teachers.

"She was leaving and she didn't listen to me when I asked wh-where she was going and then there was the dragon!" The boy said quickly, tears forming at the edges of his eyes. More than anything, Nodens was afraid of being expelled. Hagrid liked his job and he was a nice guy, but Nodes really did NOT want to be his apprentice. It was too much like what he would have had to do back home.

"Calm down! You aren't in any trouble," McGonagall told him. Nodens looked to Dumbledore for confirmation and seemed to relax a little.

"Start from the beginning," McGonagall prompted gently.

"R-right. I was up late doing my homework. Really I was! And I fell asleep at the table. And I woke up and Lisa was leaving. And I thought that was odd because we're not supposed to leave. So I called after her and she just kept walking.  It looked like she was sleepwalking. M-my uncle does it all the time. I followed her to make sure she didn't hurt herself, and I thought maybe I could wake her up. She went to entrance hall and she tried opening the registrars door, but it wouldn't open," he took a breath, "And then, well, one minute she was herself and the next minute she was this other girl and then suddenly she was a dragon and she began clawing at the door. I tried to stupefy it, but I missed and then the dragon bit me!"

The teachers all exchanged glances.  Pomfrey pulled the note Hermione had given her out of her pocket with a little squeak. She'd completely forgotten about it. She read the ingredients and gasped. 

"I forgot about this," she explained and quickly handed it to the headmaster," Hermione said it was a list of ingredients in whatever Green was being given,"

"Poly juice," Dumbledore read. As one, the teachers looked at the divider between the beds. Snape pushed it back. Green was gone.

Lisa stood in the great entrance hall of the school, fixated on the door marked "Registrar". She swayed like a doll on strings, or perhaps a cobra ready to strike. She either didn't notice or didn't care when Snape sprinted into the hall.

"Who are you?" Snape challenged, wand drawn and ready, eyes dark and flint like, cape billowing impressively.

Lisa continued to glare at the door, ignoring Snape's challenge _and the fact that her body was transforming. Her long yellow hair drew free of its braid and became shorter and wavy dark brown. Her nose became slightly longer, her cheek bones and eyes shifted. She became taller and her clothing changed as well. She now wore a black dragonleather breech-coat and matching pants. She had well worn leather boots of the same material and a small pouch at her belt. A wicked knife was strapped to the outside of her right leg and she held her wand in her right hand; ready. There were patches of dried mud on her boots from the soles to her reinforced knees. These were clearly the working clothes of someone who expected to get dirty and deal with unpleasantness. _

Snape had never seen this woman before. Certainly not at any of the meetings with his former…associates. But that didn't mean anything. She wasn't any of the handful of openly dark wizards and Snape didn't recognize her from his schooldays, for she looked about as old as he. Whoever this woman was, she wasn't Lisa Green. The woman continued to study the door, ignoring Snape. She lifted her wand, about to cast a spell.

"Stop!" Snape shouted. Lifting his own wand, he attacked before, just as the rest of the teachers arrived. The woman whirled to face his attack and said something as she flung her forearm in front of her face. The hex shattered into little trickles of green lightening as it manifested against the spectral shield and dissipated. She immediately followed through with a quick disarming charm. Severus watched his wand arc in the air, well away from him. The woman smiled at him mockingly, the first expression she'd shown, and let her arm drop.

"Severus," Her voice dripped with acid as she eyed him the way a large predator would size up prey, the door forgotten for the moment. The teachers began creeping into the hall to provide the best backup.

"Who are you?" Severus asked defiantly. He matched her acidic tone, determined that he would not show the least bit of concern.

"I am the Dragon of Voldemort," her stormy grey-blue eyes suddenly changed color to an unusual silvery gold. Snape was both startled and confused, though he did not let those emotions show on his face. He had not heard of Voldemort having any dragons, and he wondered at what new threat this woman was. Snape soon got his answer. The woman's form vanished as feathers and scales seemed to flow outwards from her body, revealing her Animagus form.

Her serpentine head was surrounded by a crest of brilliant feathers which quickly changed from blue-green to red with golden tips. Her spinal ridge was covered in a thick line of medium length feathers which were a shiny, emerald green color. A patch of scarlet fathers was centered between the double shoulder blades.  Her huge feathery wings matched the magnificent crest in color. The surface of her hide was the same brilliant green color as the ridge of feathers and her wicked claws were a shiny black. She thrashed a long muscular tail and Snape decided it looked prehensile enough to be able to squeeze a man to death. She moved with controlled power, muscles rippling under the brilliant hide as she crouched to spring. She flared both wings and crest in a show of intimidation and hissed exposing a mouth full of teeth and gleaming ivory fangs. Despite himself, Snape did take a step back.

Though he'd never seen one in real life, and had only seen a handful of (woefully inaccurate) hand drawn depictions in Creatures which may or may not be around anymore, since we haven't seen them for awhile, but here's what we know anyway, he knew what he faced; Quetzalcoatl. A particularly powerful and rare dragon from South America, they'd been purported to have become extinct when the native tribes they were worshipped by were decimated by the diseases brought by European Muggles. 

Of course since no one had seen one in almost 500 years, Snape had no idea what to expect, and so say that this bothered him quite a bit would have been a gross understatement. In fact he'd only recently seen the pictures and read the information on this creature as he researched a cure for the sick first year. Snape shot a quick glance at the other teachers. They were all in various states of shock and surprise, but Snape could tell they also had little clue as to what to do. But, because of her size, shape, and the fangs, Snape chose to think of this creature as a bizarrely colored Vipertooth, and decided to face her that way. Nasty surprises would just have to be dealt with as they arose. The dragon let out a cry which was both terrifying and beautiful. To everyone present it sounded like the song of a phoenix blended with the roar of a dragon; fitting for a creature of such beauty and capable of such destruction.

Snape reflected that it was a pity he'd have to destory her- it. Whatever. Perhaps the skin would make a lovely trophy if it (and he) survived. Of course he'd never seen a dead animagus, so perhaps they reverted form upon death. Snape, having had enough of the brief display of plumage and cutlery, summoned his wand. It flew to his waiting hand and he began throwing curses as the animagus leapt.

.

 Since she was only about 15 feet long and lightning quick, the dragon avoided Snape's hexes with ease.  Had he had the time to think about it, Severus would have had newfound appreciation for the squad of wizards and witches trained to keep the Peruvian Vipertooths at bay. The dragon's tail was indeed prehensile they all soon found out as she deftly caught the chair fleur had levitated and thrown at her head. The tail had plucked it out of the air as she whirled and had hurled it back at the startled young woman. The attack had come so quickly, Fleur had had to leap out of the way as the chair hit the wall and shattered. Unfortunately she wasn't quick enough to dodge the small vase which followed it. Pomfrey ran to her side to see if she was ok.

 Stonehoof threw a hex at the dragon but amazingly the animagus had been able to generate a spectral shield even in her draconic form. Severus had fired off a nasty cutting curse at her while she was occupied with the shield and had managed to nick her shoulder. The animagus growled in anger and then attacked Severus with flailing handpaws. Severus was dragged out of the way by a quick summoning spell by the headmaster. The dragon glared at the old wizard and then had rushed at him, her handpaws now flaming with magical fire. The headmaster used a levitation curse to liftt her off her feet, but she muttered something and the connection broke. She landed on all four feet, the stone under her still flaming limbs warped and melted. 

Fortunately, she didn't seem to be able to do that trick for too long and just as suddenly the flame ceased. The animagus then sat back on her haunches and with a word and movement like she was pushing something away, sent the headmaster flying. Minerva was there with a levitation spell. She caught Dumbledore and he landed gently a few feet from her. The two turned to face the Animagus. The dragon chuckled, her voice now low and rumbling.  She recited what was most definitely a spell. Minerva's shocked look was clear even across the great expanse of the entrance hall. Animagi were not supposed to be able to perform spells when transformed. A great wind grew in the hall and the dragon directed it at the headmaster and deputy headmistress. It blew them down the long hallway and knocked over several sets of armor and not a few paintings from the walls. 

Stonehoof rushed forward with a knife and a spell. The great roaring wind died down as the dragon dealt with this new attack. The two quadrupeds fired spells at one another at the same time and they met with a horrific bang which shook the castle and probably woke everyone not already awake. The noise made the Animagus pause. Her expression was decidedly distant, as if she were going over some internal monologue. Stonehoof took the opportunity to land a spectacular backwards kick to the dragon's head. The animagus sprawled, sliding across the stone floor, talons making a most horrid sound.  Albus and Minerva returned just in time to see her fall. Unfortunately for Snape, who was already tired from throwing so many hexes and curses, she landed near him. Their eyes locked and they attacked one another.

The combat drew close as the dragon noticed the other teachers moving to get into striking distance. Soon she was so close to Severus, the other teachers didn't dare attack for fear of hitting him. All they could do was watch and wait. The dragon knocked Snape's wand out of his hand with a flick of her tail and looked like she was going to strike him. But before anyone could react, the dragon disappeared and was replaced by the woman Lisa had turned into. 

The woman wavered a little and suddenly her clothing changed again. She was wearing an oily looking body suit under the armor most Auror's wore for the most formal or dire of occasions. The silvery armor glowed every so slightly in the low light, it's protective runes flaring power intermittently. But despite it's impressive look, the metal was worn and slightly dirty. A few scuff marks were visible on the shoulders, more on the deeply dented breastplate. The divided white skirt which hung from a gilded belt was stained with mud and what looked like old blood. On her legs she had thigh guards and tall boots which were reinforced at the shins and knees. These were caked in mud as were her hands and wrist-guards. Severus eyed those warily. He could take her wand but she would still have the gauntlets. Though they were difficult to use and expensive to make and maintain, Severus was certain they contained a magical core and could act like wands. His reasoning was her impressive powers while transformed. With the extra boost equipment like that provided, it was not hard to believe she could cast spells.

The brunette staggered in place and looked around the hall, seemingly lost. Her eyes looked like they were focused on something very far away and the circling teachers paused when they probably should have struck. The manic look returned to her eyes and they even glowed a little as she struck. A large chunk of the floor promptly blew up under Severus' feet, sending him several feet into the air. Another quick levitation spell from the Gryffindor head of house prevented him from hitting the far wall. Minerva set Severus down quickly and tried to hit the woman with a body bind. The woman blocked the hex with another shield. She reached out into the air and then pulled back. As she did so, two massive gargoyles roared to life on their pedestals. The stone minions leapt to the ground and attacked the nearest people; Poppy and Albus. 

            Suddenly the woman's eyes refocused and a hoarse cry of triumph erupted from her throat as she sank to her knees. She reached out and the gargoyles stopped their attacks and looked at her quizzically before they returned to their previous positions. The woman smiled, triumphantly as a trickle of sweat ran down the side of her face. She wiped it away with a hand and then rubbed her eyes. The teachers moved forward and Snape began to edge towards his wand. The woman froze unnaturally.

"Stupid Girl," the harsh voice said, echoing off the stone walls. The hand lowered and the teachers could see that the voice came from the woman herself. The woman shook her head in denial and her face contorted into a grimace. "I am fighting you!" She growled in an entirely different voice. The harsh voice laughed. The woman tossed her head and clutched her temples. The voice returned with a laugh which filled the hall. "Change! Change damn you! The Dark Lord has _Commanded_ it! You _MUST_ obey," The woman said to herself and she went to her knees/ Her hands changed into the draconic claws and pawed at the stone floor, creating deep cuts. "No," The woman shook her head as if trying to clear it and winced in pain. Her fingers had become normal flesh and they were being cut by the sharp furrows in the stone floor.

            "I think she's under the Imperious curse and she's trying to fight it," Pomfrey said to Fleur in a breathless whisper. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and now Stonehoof were circling the tortured figure. Severus, who was now nursing a number of bruises and small cuts, hung back ready to provide support. They all seemed to have made the same connection. It was very difficult to have this level of control on someone and the results were erratic and often messy. The effect was almost a second personality controlling the first. It was a horrible thing and a trick Voldemort had come up with just before his defeat in Godric's Hollow. The imperious voice tried to get the woman to disarm her opponents. She got as far as the retreating Severus before the normal mind controlled the curse.

Snape made a grab for his wand and the woman turned and snatched it from him with inhuman speed.

            "I think not Severus," She hissed and slithered back from him. Her clothing changed back into the black leathers. She looked at the teachers, blue eyes shining in her manic expression. 

"I will kill you too!" she said pointing at the deputy headmistress, "You and the Potter boy!" her laugher echoed in the chamber. Her face blanked suddenly. Her eyes became completely unfocused and her face became slack. Then, just as abruptly, it changed back to its fanatical visage which was now very pissed. The fanatic personality snarled and then smirked at the headmaster.

"Killed by your own kin!" She hissed; this thought seemed to please her. She then blanked briefly again before returning to the crazed look. The woman snarled and turned to face Snape, sensing an easier target. Instead of an insult, her face changed once more and she hurled his wand at him. Needless to say, Snape was surprised. He snatched the wand out of the air and watched warily as the woman smiled; very tired but triumphant. Suddenly the harsh voice screamed and the woman clutched her head. The cry became the musical cry of the dragon and then stopped abruptly.

            "You are the servant of the Dark Lord. You _will_ comply!" She hissed to herself. It was terribly disturbing to see someone fight with themselves. 

            "I'm not!" the woman shrieked in her normal voice.

"You don't even remember who you are!" the voice cackled evilly. She began to change, but she stopped. Confused, the woman frowned then the voice shrieked in frustration. She changed into the dragon briefly before she changed back and staggered, falling to her knees. She changed partway into a bipedal version of the dragon. She took a few painful, staggering steps before collapsing and reverting to her human body once again.

"Stun me!" The woman yelled at McGonagall, who was creeping forward. The woman ran a dirty had across her face, again wiping sweat from her eyes before swaying on hands and knees. Her clothing changed to the leather and back again twice even as her hair became feathery and her hands scaly. Her black claws dug into the stone floor making more deep cuts.  She regained control of her form for a moment before wings began growing from her back as the imperious curse told her to transform. However, since the woman was fighting the imperious curse, the result was very messy to say the least. 

Only one wing had begun to form. Bones poked through her pain arched back A bloody piece of skin attached one end of her malformed wing to her back. Muscle hung loosely from the bones, connected above and below the partially formed joint. A few misshapen flesh colored feathers and a few red and pink ones stuck out from the single wing at odd angles. Her blood was thick and so dark red it was nearly black. It slid down her back and arms to pool on the floor. Her face was trying to change and her hands already had. Her claws were once again making deep furrows in the stone floor which her human fingers were sliced on again and again as she changed back and forth.

"For the love of Merlin stun me!" She shrieked. Her yell was cut off as she gasped in pain. The second wing had nearly exploded out of her back, sending dark blood and bits of bone out in a red spray. 

"STUPIFY!" the five teachers called at once. The woman's body arched and she fell to the ground. The woman groaned and curled into a little ball, still not unconscious. The Headmaster immediately cast a powerful sleeping spell, finally putting the woman out. McGonagall cast a restoration spell at her and her body returned to normal. The pool of blood remained, soaking into her tattered clothing. Large bruises were already forming on her exposed back. The teachers exchanged alarmed glances as they approached the woman.

At a nod from Dumbledore, McGonagall lifted her up with magic even as Poppy ran over, a shaky Fleur behind her.  Poppy took over the levitation and maneuvered the woman's limp body out of the room and towards the hospital wing, leaving summoned house elves to clean the hall before any students were the wiser.

A/N Taking some liberties w/ what a Quetzalcoatl looks like. For those who haven't heard of them they were feathered snakes in S.American Mythology. Quetzalcoatl was the name of the God who sometimes took this form (and who the natives thought cortez was) traditionally they're depicted on temples as snakes w/ a fan of feathers around their heads and on the ends of their tails. I decided to make 'em look a bit more like other dragons. *points* this is what happens when an Animagus transformation goes BAD and why it is not a good idea to try it on your own. Having bones explode out of your back isn't fun. ^_^

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